Bertrand Tavernier

With Bertrand Tavernier’s death on 25 March 2021 at the age of 79, the 7^th Art lost the last member of its French branch of so-called “classic” filmmakers. A man with an unquenchable curiosity and an encyclopedic knowledge, he had made himself at home within cinema, where he enjoyed both making his films and living the different stages of his life. The camera operators, with whom he enjoyed sharing books and rare, forgotten finds from screens of all sorts – as well as with his other coworkers, friends or acquaintances – were, according to this director, his allies.

In late January 2015, cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn, AFC, was asked to take over the color grading process of Bertrand Tavernier’s L’Horloger de Saint-Paul at Laboratoires Éclair, in advance of the release of a Blu-Ray DVD version two months later. He’d sent his friend, the director, a letter, in which he shared his emotion at watching the film again and remembering the experience of shooting beside him. Here’s an excerpt…

Forty years ago, nearly to the day, shooting on Coup de torchon began. I was Pierre-William Glenn’s assistant cameraman. We’d just finished Alain Corneau’s Le Choix des armes, and, before that, Yves Boisset’s Allons z’enfants, on which I’d debuted as a second assistant. Three films without a single day of rest between the end of the shoot and the start of camera tests, and there I was, promoted to the operator for Tavernier’s film. I didn’t imagine the human, cinephile and professional adventure I was embarking upon.

The recent passing of Bertrand Tavernier has elicited many reactions from all sides of the world of cinema. Besides those written by a few personalities, we share below memorials written by Richard Andry, AFC, Pierre-William Glenn, AFC, Agnes Godard, AFC, Laurent Heynemann, Pascal Lebègue, AFC, Denis Lenoir, AFC, Gilles Porte, AFC, and Myriam Vinocour, AFC.