Jean-Charles Tacchella Explained

Jean-Charles Tacchella
Birth Date:1925 9, df=y
Birth Place:Cherbourg, Manche, Normandy, France
Death Place:Versailles, Yvelines, France
Occupation:Film director, screenwriter, cinematographer
Years Active:1955–2010

Jean-Charles Tacchella (23 September 1925 – 29 August 2024) was a French screenwriter and film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his film Cousin Cousine (1975), which was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film[1] and which was later remade in the U.S. as Cousins (1989) starring Ted Danson, Isabella Rossellini, Sean Young and William Petersen.

Early career

Jean-Charles Tacchella was born on 23 September 1925 in Cherbourg, Manche. He had Genoese ancestry. He studied in Marseilles and, just after the liberation of France, left for Paris with the aim of becoming a film director. He joined when he was nineteen, where he worked with Jean Renoir, Becker, and Grémillon. While with the magazine, he wrote about filmmakers, actors, films and met André Bazin, Nino Frank, Roger Leenhardt,, and Alexandre Astruc. He became friends with Erich Von Stroheim, Anna Magnani, Vittorio de Sica and created the monthly “Ciné Digest” with Henri Colpi. In 1948, Tacchella, along with Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Astruc, Claude Mauriac, René Clément, and Pierre Kast, established Objectif 49, an avant-garde film club whose president was Jean Cocteau. Objectif 49 became the birthplace of the New Wave cinema.[2] [3]

Film director

Jean-Charles Tacchella directed eleven features, many of which have had successful international careers and been awarded prestigious prizes. They include Voyage to Grand Tartarie (1974), Cousin cousine (1975, nominated for the Oscars Césars, Silver Shell for Best Director at the 1976 San Sebastian International Film Festival), Le Pays bleu (1977), It's a Long Time I've Loved You (1979, Jury Prize at the Montreal Film Festival), Croque la vie (1981), Staircase C (1985, Prix de l'Académie française, Grand Prix at the Uppsala Film Festival), Travelling avant (1987, Best Male Newcomer for Thierry Frémont – Golden Tulip for Best Director at the Istanbul Film Festival), Gallant Ladies (Best Director, Digne Film Festival 1990), The Man of My Life (1992), and Seven Sundays (1995).[2]

Tacchella was described as being "a smooth technician, Tacchella's camera work is fluid and precise". His movie Traveling avant (1987) is described as "a semi-autobiographical paean to his youth as a cinema fanatic and cine-club enthusiast in post-war Paris".[4]

Cinémathèque

Tacchella was President of the Cinémathèque Française from 2000 to 2003.[2]

Death

Tacchella died in Versailles, Yvelines on 29 August 2024, at the age of 98.[5]

Selected filmography

Source:[2] [6]

!Year!Title!Director!Writer!Producer
1955The Heroes Are TiredNoYesNo
1957Typhoon over NagasakiNoYesNo
1958The Law Is the LawNoYesNo
1959Come Dance with MeNoYesNo
1959 (Le vent se lève)NoYesNo
1959CroquemitoufleNoYesNo
1960The Itchy PalmNoYesNo
1961The Honors of WarNoYesNo
1962Crime Does Not PayNoYesNo
1964The Thief of TibadaboNoYesNo
1964The Great BlowNoYesNo
1966La longue marcheNoYesNo
1971Legs in the AirNoYesNo
1971 (short)YesYesNo
1973Une belle journée (short)YesYesNo
1974YesYesNo
1975Cousin CousineYesYesNo
1978YesYesNo
1979 (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime)YesYesNo
1981YesYesNo
1985YesYesNo
1987YesYesNo
1990YesYesNo
1992YesYesNo
1994Seven SundaysYesYesNo
1999Les Gens qui s'aimentYesYesNo

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The 49th Academy Awards (1977) Nominees and Winners . 25 March 2012 . oscars.org . 2 April 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150402004041/http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1977 . live .
  2. News: Mort du réalisateur Jean-Charles Tacchella à 98 ans . 31 August 2024 . Le Figaro . 30 August 2024 . fr . 31 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240831020037/https://www.lefigaro.fr/cinema/mort-du-realisateur-jean-charles-tacchella-a-98-ans-20240830 . live .
  3. http://en.unifrance.org/directories/person/44765/jean-charles-tacchella Unifrance Site
  4. http://www.film.com/celebrities/jean-charles-tacchella/14631118 quote from Film.com Site
  5. News: 30 August 2024 . Le réalisateur Jean-Charles Tacchella est décédé à 98 ans . 30 August 2024 . lematin.ch . fr . 1018-3736 . 30 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240830140322/https://www.lematin.ch/story/cinema-le-realisateur-jean-charles-tacchella-est-decede-a-98-ans-103177129 . live .
  6. Web site: Jean-Charles Tacchella . TVGuide.com . 3 September 2024 . 4 September 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240904002652/https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jean-charles-tacchella/credits/3030005971/ . live .