Deep focus: Maurice Pialat – the man who changed French cinema - Sight & Sound 🎥 🍿 🇫🇷

Maurice Pialat’s stark, unsentimental films left a mark on French cinema that arguably outweighs even that of the nouvelle vague. A director who thrived on conflict, he captured moments of searing emotional power on screen, inspiring a generation of French directors and actors.

When Cahiers du cinéma in 1998 convened a meeting of young French filmmakers to discuss the influence of the New Wave, the conversation soon turned to Pialat, with the majority asserting that he was far more significant in their formation. While his refusal to concede to cliché and the sentimental, as well as his boldness in tackling unpredictable subjects, is perfectly evident in the work of such overt disciples as Cédric Kahn and Arnaud Desplechin, it’s much harder to define exactly where Pialat himself springs from – and in what tradition in French cinema he takes his place, if any.