Encyclopedia of French Film Directors

110 • BLIER, BERTRAND
BLIER, BERTRAND (March 14, 1939, Boulogne-
Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France–)
The son of actor Bernard Blier (1916–1989), he made
his apprenticeship as a trainee assistant director (1959
Oh! Que Mambo / Il giovane leone, John Berry, France
/ Italy; Babette s’en va-t-en Guerre / USA: Babette Goes
to War, Christian-Jaque; Maigret et l’Affaire Saint-Fiacre
/ Maigret e il caso Saint-Fiacre / UK and USA: Maigret
and the St. Fiacre Case, Jean Delannoy, France / Italy;
Rue des Prairies / Mio fi glio / USA: Rue de Paris, France /
Italy) and assistant director (1961 Arrêtez les Tambours!
/ USA: Women and War, Georges Lautner; Le Monocle
noir / USA: The Black Monocle, Georges Lautner; 1962
En plein Cirage / Operazione Gold Ingot / USA: Operation
Gold Ingot, Georges Lautner, France / Italy; Le Septième
Juré / USA: The Seventh Juror, Georges Lautner; 1963
La vergine di Norimberga / La Vierge di Norimberga / UK:
The Castle of Terror / USA: Horror Castle, Anthony M.
Dawson = Antonio Margheriti, Italy / France). He also
worked as a screenwriter (1971 Laisse aller . . . c’est
une Valse / UK: Troubleshooters, also screenwriter, coadapter,
co-dialogist, France / Italy; 1983 Debout les Crabes,
la Mer monte!, as author of original story, Jacques
Grand-Jouan; 1994 Grosse Fatigue / UK and USA: Dead
Tired, as author of original story, Michel Blanc; 2004
Pédale dure, as co-screenwriter, co-dialogist, Gabriel
Aghion), played in Ma Vie est un Enfer (Josiane Balasko,
1991), and appeared as himself in documentaries shot
for cinema (1992 Patrick Dewaere, Marc Esposito) and
TV (1999 Un Siècle d’Ecrivains, episode Emile Cioran,
Bernard Jourdain; 2002 Compositeurs / Réalisateurs,
Dialogue impossible?, Vincent Perrot; 2003 Blier by Nice,
Jean-Jacques Bernard; Patrick Dewaere, l’Enfant du siècle,
Alexandre Moix; La Trilogie des “Monocle,” David Maltese).
He wrote novels (1973 Les Valseuses, Editions
Robert Laffont; 1998 Beau-Père, Editions Robert Laffont;
1999 Existe en blanc, Editions Robert Laffont) and
a play (1997 Les Côtelettes, Editions Actes Sud).
Filmography
1963 Hitler, connais pas! (also screenwriter)
1966 La Grimace (short; also screenwriter)
1967 Si j’étais un Espion / Breakdown / USA: If I Were
a Spy (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter)
1974 Les Valseuses / UK: Getting It Up / Making It /
USA: Going Places (also author of original novel,
co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist)
1976 Calmos / UK: Cool, Calm and Collected / USA:
Femmes Fatales (also co-screenwriter, codialogist)
1978 Préparez vos Mouchoirs / UK: Get Your Handkerchiefs
Ready / USA: Get Your Handkerchiefs (also
screenwriter, dialogist; France / Canada)
1979 Buffet froid / UK and USA: Cold Cuts (also
screenwriter, dialogist)
1981 Beau-Père / UK: Stepfather / USA: Beau Pere
(also author of original novel, screenwriter,
adapter, dialogist)
1983 La Femme de mon Pote / USA: My Best Friend’s
Girl (co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)
1984 Notre Histoire / UK: Our Story / USA: Separate
Rooms (also screenwriter, dialogist)
1986 Tenue de Soirée / UK: Evening Dress / USA:
Menage (also screenwriter, dialogist)
1989 Trop belle pour toi! / USA: Too Beautiful for You
(also screenwriter, dialogist)
1991 Contre l’Oubli / Ecrire contre l’Oubli / Against
Oblivion / Lest We Forget (documenary; segment
“Pour Alirio de Crisanto Mederos, Vénézuela”)
Merci la Vie! / UK: Thank You, Life / Thanks for
Life (also screenwriter, dialogist)
1993 Un, Deux, Trois, Soleil / UK and USA: 1, 2, 3, Sun
(also screenwriter, dialogist)
1996 Mon Homme / UK and USA: My Man (also
screenwriter, dialogist)
2000 Les Acteurs (also screenwriter, dialogist, actor
as himself)
2003 Les Côtelettes (also author of original play,
screenwriter, adapter, dialogist)
2005 Combien tu m’aimes? / Per sesso o per amore?
(also screenwriter, dialogist, actor; France /
Italy)
BLISTÈNE, MARCEL (Marcel Blitstein / June 3,
1911, Paris, France–August 2, 1991, Paris, France)
Having graduated with a bachelor’s degree in literature,
he entered fi lms as an assistant at the
Paramount in 1930, working with such directors as
René Guissart, Alexander Korda, Harry Lachman, and
Louis Mercanton. Then he became fi lm journalist for
Cinémonde and Pour vous. From 1935 to 1939, he was
press attaché for fi lms and actors.
Filmography
1946 Etoile sans Lumière / UK and USA: Star Without
Light (also screenwriter)
Macadam / UK and USA: Back Streets of Paris
(supervised by Jacques Feyder)
1949 Rapide de Nuit
Le Sorcier du Ciel