Jacques Feyder

Jacques Feyder was a Belgian actor screenwriter and film director who worked principally in France but also in the USA Britain and Germany He was a leading director of silent films during the 1920s and in the 1930s he became associated with the style of poetic realism in French cinema He adopted French nationality in 1928 Born Jacques Léon Louis Frédérix in Ixelles Belgium at age twentyfive however he moved to Paris where he pursued an interest in acting first on stage and then in film adopting the name Jacques Feyder He joined the Gaumont Film Company and in 1914 he became an assistant director with Gaston Ravel He started directing films for Gaumont in 1916 but his career was interrupted by service with the Belgian army during 19171919 After the end of the war he returned to filmmaking and quickly built a reputation as one of the most innovative directors in French cinema LAtlantide 1921 based on the novel by Pierre Benoit and Crainquebille 1922 from the novel by Anatole France were his first major films to achieve public and critical attention He also contributed screenplays of films for other directors His last silent film in France was Les Nouveaux Messieurs a topical political satire which provoked calls for it to be banned in France for insulting the dignity of parliament and its ministers By this time Feyder had accepted an offer from MGM to work in Hollywood where in 1929 his first project was directing Greta Garbo in The Kiss her last silent film It was in Hollywood that he made the transition to sound films even before he had worked with sound films Feyder declared himself to be a firm believer in their future in contrast with some of his French contemporaries Disillusioned with the Hollywood system Feyder returned to France in 1933 During the next three years he made three of his most successful films all of them in collaboration with screenwriter Charles Spaak and featuring Françoise Rosay in a leading role Le Grand Jeu 1934 and Pension Mimosas 1935 were both significant creations in the style of poetic realism La Kermesse héroïque 1935 also known as Carnival in Flanders was a meticulously staged period film with contemporary political resonances which earned Feyder several international awards Feyder went on to direct films in England and Germany prior to the outbreak of World War II Following the Nazi occupation in 1940 which led to the banning of La Kermesse héroïque he left France for the safety of Switzerland and directed a last film there Une femme disparaît 1942 In 1917 Feyder had married Parisianborn actress Françoise Rosay 18911974 with whom he had three sons she acted in many of his films and collaborated with him as writer and assistant director on Visages denfants Jacques Feyder died in 1948 at Prangins Switzerland A school lycée in ÉpinaysurSeine in the north of Paris was named in his honour in 1977 Épinay was the location of the Tobis film studios where Feyder made Le Grand Jeu and Pension Mimosas