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Michel Blanc: itinerary of an actor who knew how to make people laugh but also cry
Michel Blanc: itinerary of an actor who knew how to make people laugh but also cry
(Franceinfo)
From his legendary performance in Les Bronzés to the making of his own films, Michel Blanc has, over a 50-year career, taken audiences from laughter to tears. A look back at the career of a giant of French cinema.
Michel Blanc spans 50 years of a multi-faceted career. His loser character, mustachioed and self-conscious, marked the 80s. “I don’t know how to make people laugh like de Funès, I don’t know how to make people laugh like Dany Boon, I don’t have that talent. So I make people laugh more with dialogue, and by seeking almost dramatic sincerity at the moment when It’s bad, and it makes you laugh.”he said in 2010.
In Evening Dress by Bertrand Blier, in 1986, Michel Blanc bares himself, facing Gérard Depardieu. To play scenes in drag, the actor removes his mustache, and appears as if freed from his cult role of Jean-Claude Dusse of Les Bronzés. Thanks to this performance, he received the acting prize at Cannes in 1986. A new career then opened up to him, with more ambiguous characters. Like the moving Monsieur Hire, in the eponymous 1989 film, alongside Sandrine Bonnaire.
A sensitive actor, but also a daring director, from Walk in the Shadow to Kiss Whoever You Will. In Grosse fatigue, in 1994, he went so far as to portray himself in his own role. Michel Blanc had recently shot two feature films, which will be released in 2025.
Watch the full report in the video above.