Michel Piccoli dies aged 94.
It is with great sadness that we learn of Michel Piccoli’s passing today, May 18. An immense actor, Piccoli dies aged 94.
For my series of articles on the Cannes Film Festival, I’ll focus today on a film starring Michel Piccoli, which won the Grand Prix. The film for which he won best actor is unfortunately not available to stream online.
I don’t think there is a single film the French actor starred in where his performance was not outstanding. Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris (Contempt) brought him fame. He became Luis Bunuel’s favorite actor, starring in five of his films, including Belle de Jour and The Diary of a Chambermaid. Piccoli also starred in many films by French director Claude Sautet, see notably César and Rosalie, with Romy Schneider. He worked with all the greats, such as Jacques Demy, Marco Bellochio, Claude Lelouch, Claude Chabrol, Henri-George Clouzot, Marco Ferreri, Manoel de Oliveira, Raoul Ruiz, Leos Carax, and Nanni Moretti. The list could go on.
He won the award for best actor at Cannes in 1980 for Marco Bellochio’s Salto Nel Vuoto (A Leap In the Dark). The screening of Marco Ferreri’s La Grande Bouffe, in which he starred alongside Philippe Noiret and Marcello Mastroianni,created a scandal at the festival in 1973, even though the controversial film went home with the prestigious FRIPRESCI prize.
