Alex Christophe Dupont (born 22 November 1960), best known as Leos Carax (), is a French

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

, critic and writer. Carax is noted for his poetic style and his tortured depictions of love. His first major work was '' Boy Meets Girl'' (1984), and his notable works include '' Les Amants du Pont-Neuf'' (1991), '' Holy Motors'' (2012) and '' Annette'' (2021). For the last, he won the

Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director The Best Director Award (french: Prix de la mise en scène) is an award presented annually at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Co ...

at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. His professional name is an anagram of his real name, 'Alex', and 'Oscar'.

Early life

Carax was born Alex Christophe Dupont in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud a ...

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a département in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west ...

, a commune in the

suburbs of Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, France. His mother is American and his father is French.

Career

Carax's film career began with a series of short films, and as a film critic, before he released '' Boy Meets Girl'' (1984), which established his reputation for a mature visual style. It also saw the first grouping of Carax with

Denis Lavant Denis Lavant (born 17 June 1961) is a French actor. He is known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick, acrobatics or dance, as well as for his long-standing association w ...

and

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

Jean-Yves Escoffier Jean-Yves Escoffier (12 July 1950 – 1 April 2003) was a French cinematographer. For his work on films by Leos Carax, Escoffier received the European Film Award for Best Cinematographer and was nominated for the César Award for Best Cinemato ...

. His next film was ''

Mauvais Sang ''Mauvais Sang'' (, ''Bad Blood''), also known as ''The Night Is Young'', is Leos Carax's second film. Released in 1986, the film played at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival before being nominated for three César Awards and winning the P ...

'' (literally ''Bad Blood'' but mostly known as ''The Night is Young'') in 1986, which alienated some of his audience, but continued to explore the complexities of love in the modern world, this time through a darker, more criminal viewpoint. The work was clearly an homage to

French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

cinema, and his use of such actresses as

Juliette Binoche Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress and dancer. She has appeared in more than sixty feature films and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Silver Bear, ...

was a tribute to his influences, especially

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...

. The film was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival. Five years later, Carax returned to directing with '' Les Amants du Pont-Neuf'', an expensive undertaking as Parisian authorities granted him only 10 days to film on

Pont Neuf The Pont Neuf (, "New Bridge") is the oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris, France. It stands by the western (downstream) point of the Île de la Cité, the island in the middle of the river that was, between 250 and 225 BC ...

. His initial reaction to the problems of filming on a public bridge had been to construct a model of the bridge in the community of Lansargues, in

Southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

. But on the first day of filming Lavant severely injured his thumb, which pushed the movie back by a month. Subsequent financial difficulties further pushed filming over a much longer period than intended. The movie was released to critical acclaim and opened the door for Carax to enter more experimental waters with his fourth feature, '' Pola X'' (1999), an adaptation of

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a ...

's '' Pierre: or, The Ambiguities''. Carax's 2012 film '' Holy Motors'' also stars Lavant. The film competed for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard sectio ...

. In 2021, Carax directed '' Annette'', a music-filled drama feature film written by Sparks and starring

Adam Driver Adam Douglas Driver (born November 19, 1983) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award; making him one of few performers nominated ...

and Marion Cotillard. In 2017, Carax performed vocals and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

on the Sparks track ''When You're a French Director'' from its album ''

Hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two exta ...

''.

Filmography

Director

Films

Music videos

As actor

References

External links

* * *
Alex in the City
Fergus Daly offers a brief guide to the fall and rise of Leos Carax"

Alternate music video by Carax for the song "Crystal"
by New Order at Google Video.
Interview with Carax on funding for ''Pola X''
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

.
Carax's 1997 short film ''Sans Titre''
at

.
Carax's ''"my last minute"''
a short film at

.
Foco - Revista de Cinema, special edition devoted to Leos Carax

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carax, Leos 1960 births Living people People from Suresnes French film directors French male screenwriters French screenwriters French film critics French male film actors French experimental filmmakers French people of American descent French male non-fiction writers Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director winners Postmodernist filmmakers