Olivier Assayasis one of the most talented French filmmakers nowadays. He started his career in the movie industry by helping his father, French director and screenwriter Raymond Assayas. Then Olivier Assayas studied painting and literature, wrote film criticism at iconic French magazineCahiers du Cinéma(Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and many other film artists worked here), and made his debut as a director with 1986 psychological thrillerDisorder.
His follow-up films made him a prominent force in cinema.Cold Water,Irma Vep, andClouds of Sils Mariawas positively received by both critics and audiences. ForPersonal Shopper, Assayas won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director. Now, he’s takenIrma Vepand turned it into a currentminiseries on HBO, writing and directing what’s become aperfect-score title on Rotten Tomatoes. Let’s look at the best movies from Assayas, ranked.
7Cold Water
The 1994 coming-of-age dramaCold Wateris a breakthrough film in Olivier Assayas’ career. The director tells a story about his own youthful experiences and describes life in Paris in the early 1970s.Cold Waterfollows two teenagers, Gilles and Christine, who rebel against their parents and decide to run away together. Gilles and Christine’s love story unfold to a great soundtrack, including Bob Dylan, Nico, Leonard Cohen, and Roxy Music songs. This film is a real time capsule, wonderfully textured, moving, and realistic.
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6Non-Fiction
Non-Fictionis a 2018 witty, smart, and character-driven comedy of midlife crises set in the Parisian publishing world. The film centers on two couples: publisher Alain (Guillaume Canet) and his actress wife Selena (played by Juliette Binoche), and successful author Léonard (Vincent Macaigne) and his politician wife Valérie (Nora Hamzawi). They are dealing with changes in their relationships and professional lives.Non-Fictionis packed with intellectual sparring; there are many long scenes of discussions about writing, the age of the Internet, digital communication, and modern day living. Olivier Assayas did a great job studying the Parisian intelligentsia.
The 2010 Golden Globe-winning television miniseriesCarlosis a brilliantly told epic story of Venezuelan-born terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez also known as Carlos the Jackal, who is now serving a life sentence in a French jail. The biopic details Carlos’ life between 1974 and 1994, the two decades when this left-wing revolutionary was one of the world’s most wanted fugitives. Edgar Ramirez, who described Carlos as “a bit of a monster, a bit of a dreamer, a bit of an idealist, a bit of an assassin, a mixture of everything” toThe New York Times, is excellent in the leading role. He and Olivier Assayas create an epic meditation on politics, generational differences, fate, and topics more universal than the story of the global gangster.
4Summer Hours
For Olivier Assayas’ 2008 drama,Summer Hours, Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, and Jérémie Renier appear as siblings who decide what to do with their mother’s inheritance. The director is conveying the vacuum of death and the sense of what’s been lost in the setting of a family of grown children. It is a beautifully acted, gentle sad, and touching movie about passing on and moving forward. InThe New York Timeslist of the 25 best films of the 21st century so far,Summer Hourswas ranked 9th.
Assayas’ 1996 comedy-dramaIrma Vepis an engaging film about filmmaking with some satirical barbs aimed at the industry. The movie centers on Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung (playing herself), who turns up in Paris to star in a remake of the classic silent filmLes Vampires;the production falls into chaos.Cheung, who was married to Assayas at the time, is absolutely perfect as the confused actor in the midst of cinematic turmoil; after their divorce, she would appear in another very good film from the director,Clean.
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In 2022, the director adaptedIrma Vepinto anHBO series in Junethat stars Alicia Vikander in the title role. Olivier Assayas opened up toVultureabout the idea of his own remake, saying, “Irma Vepis not a movie.Irma Vepis a concept. you may adapt it to any kind of film culture. When I did it in the ’90s, cinema was in turmoil for many different reasons. I think now it’s in turmoil for completely new and different reasons.”
2Clouds of Sils Maria
A meditation on aging and fame, the 2014 dramaClouds of Sils Mariafollows a respected actress, Maria Enders (played magnificently by Juliette Binoche), who is asked to perform in a new version of the play that made her a star 20 years ago. But now she steps into the role of the older character, her previous role goes to Hollywood starlet Jo-Ann Ellis (played by Chloë Grace Moretz). Maria departs with her young American assistant, Valentine (Kristen Stewart really shines here), to the Alps to prepare for the role. Relationships with Jo-Ann and Valentine force Maria to reflect on her life. It is a deep, intelligent, and enigmatic portrait of a woman confronting her demons.
1Personal Shopper
The 2016 Cannes award-winning psychological thriller,Personal Shopperfollows fashion assistant Maureen (one of thebest Kristen Stewart performances) who is coping with her twin brother’s recent death. She seeks to get in touch with the afterlife. It is a beautifully crafted melancholy ghost story. Olivier Assayas opened up toThe Criterion Collectionabout this film, saying, “Personal Shopperis a much simpler film than other movies I’ve made, but in many ways it’s also a film that touches on something very personal and also represents how I work and how I function as a filmmaker and a person.” It is arguably Assayas’ best film to date, which deserved itsfour-and-a-half-minute standing ovationat the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
