Jacqueline Audry (25 September 1908 – 22 June 1977) was a French

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

who began making films in post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

France and specialised in

literary adaptation Literary adaptation is the process of adapting a literary work (e.g. a novel, short story, poem) into another genre or medium, such as a film, stage play, video game, or other literary genre, such as a graphic novel, while still maintaining them ...

s. She was the first commercially successful female director of post-war France.

Biography

Audry was born in

Orange, Vaucluse Orange (; Provençal dialect, Provençal: ''Aurenja'' or ''Aurenjo'' ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Because there were few opportunities for female directors during the

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, Audry worked as an assistant to directors

Jean Delannoy Jean Delannoy (; 12 January 1908 – 18 June 2008) was a French actor, film editor, screenwriter and film director. Biography Although Delannoy was born in a Paris suburb, his family was from Haute-Normandie in the north of France. He was a Pro ...

G. W. Pabst Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. ...

and

Max Ophüls Maximillian Oppenheimer ( , ; 6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957), known as Max Ophüls ( , , ) or simply Ophuls, was a German and French film director and screenwriter. He was known for his opulent and lyrical visual style, with heavy use of trac ...

and directed a short film of her own, ''Le Feu de paille'' (1943), with the help of the Centre Artistique et Technique des Jeunes du Cinéma (now La Femis). The end of

and the

liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

of France provided increased opportunities for women, but they still faced prejudice in the film industry. Audry's first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

was ''

Les Malheurs de Sophie ''The Misfortunes of Sophie'' (French: ''Les Malheurs de Sophie'') is a 1946 French comedy drama film directed by Jacqueline Audry and starring Madeleine Rousset, Marguerite Moreno and Michel Auclair.Palmer & Michael p.69 The film is based on th ...

'' (1946). This was based on the popular novel of the same name by the Comtesse de Ségur. No copies of this film, which was censored for its "politically inappropriate" riot scenes, exist. Unable to raise funds for her next film, she had to wait a couple of years before making '' Sombre dimanche'' (1948). In the 1940s and 1950s, she directed three films based on

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...

novels; '' Gigi'' (1949), ''

Minne Minne, a Middle High German word for "loving remembrance", may refer to: *Courtly love in the German courtly tradition * Frau Minne, a personification of romantic love in German courtly tradition People * Danièle Djamila Amrane-Minne (1939–2017 ...

'' (1950) and ''

Mitsou Mitsou Annie Marie Gélinas (born September 1, 1970, in Loretteville, Quebec) is a Canadian pop singer, businesswoman, television and radio host, and actress. She is credited as Mitsou Gélinas when acting, but records simply as Mitsou (the Fre ...

'' (1956), all three with actress

Danièle Delorme Gabrielle Danièle Marguerite Andrée Girard (9 October 1926 – 17 October 2015), known by her stage name Danièle Delorme (), was a French actress and film producer, famous for her roles in films directed by Marc Allégret, Julien Duvivier an ...

. ''Mitsou'', which featured sex outside of marriage, was heavily censored. Audry directed ''The Pit of Loneliness'' (''

Olivia Olivia may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Olivia (singer), American singer Olivia Longott (born 1981) * Olívia (basketball), Brazilian basketball playe ...

'', 1951), based on

Dorothy Bussy Dorothy Bussy ( Strachey; 24 July 1865 – 1 May 1960) was an English novelist and translator, close to the Bloomsbury Group. Family background and childhood Dorothy Bussy was a member of the Strachey family. Her mother was suffragist J ...

's 1950 semi-

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

novel, ''Olivia''. Set in an

all-girls Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, same-sex education, same-gender education, and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in se ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

, ''The Pit of Loneliness'' depicts a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

love story between a schoolgirl and her headmistress. At the time, the film was very controversial and was censored in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Edwige Feuillère Edwige Feuillère (born Edwige Louise Caroline Cunatti; 29 October 1907 – 13 November 1998) was a French stage and film actress. Biography She was born Edwige Louise Caroline Cunatti to an Italian architect father and an Alsace-born moth ...

was nominated for a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

award for Best Foreign Actress for her part as Mlle. Julie, the headmistress. The film has been called a "landmark of lesbian representation". She frequently collaborated with her sister, the novelist and screenwriter

Colette Audry Colette Audry (6 July 1906 – 20 October 1990) was a French novelist, screenwriter, and critic. Audry was born in Orange, Vaucluse. She won the Prix Médicis for the autobiographical novel Derrière la baignoire (Behind the Bathtub). As a screen ...

. Audry's film style was traditional and at odds with the

French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...

. Her films had a feminist slant however. Many of them had central female characters and they often gave a radical view of gender roles and female sexuality. Audry retired from feature films after ''Bitter Fruit'' (1967), but she co-directed with Wojciech Solarz a Polish-French miniseries of the life of

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...

in 1973. Audry died in a road accident in

Poissy Poissy () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Inhabitan ...

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207. She was married to the

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

Pierre Laroche Pierre Laroche (1902–1962) was a French journalist, screenwriter and novelist. He was active in the Cinema of France, French film industry from the 1940s to the 1960s. Laroche collaborated with Jacques Prévert on the script of ''Les Visiteurs ...

with whom she collaborated on film scripts on a number of occasions.

Filmography

Among the 16 films Audry directed were: * ''

The Misfortunes of Sophie ''The Misfortunes of Sophie'' (French: ''Les Malheurs de Sophie'') is a 1946 French comedy drama film directed by Jacqueline Audry and starring Madeleine Rousset, Marguerite Moreno and Michel Auclair.Palmer & Michael p.69 The film is based on th ...

'' (1946) * '' Dark Sunday'' (1948) * '' Gigi'' (1949) * ''

'' (1950) * ''

'' (US title: ''The Pit of Loneliness'') (1951) * ''

The Blonde Gypsy ''The Blonde Gypsy'' (French: ''La caraque blonde'') is a 1953 French drama film directed by Jacqueline Audry and starring Tilda Thamar, Roger Pigaut and Gérard Landry.Pallister & Hottell p.78 Cast * Tilda Thamar as Myra Milagros * Roger Pigau ...

'' (1953) * '' Huis clos'' (''No Exit'') (1954) * ''

'' (1956) * '' It's All Adam's Fault'' (1958) * '' School for Coquettes'' (1958) * ''

Le Secret du chevalier d'Éon ''Le secret du Chevalier d'Éon'' is a 1959 French-Italian film. It stars Andrée Debar and Gabriele Ferzetti Gabriele Ferzetti (born Pasquale Ferzetti; 17 March 1925 – 2 December 2015) was an Italian actor with more than 160 credits acros ...

'' (1959) * ''

Girl on the Road ''Girl on the Road'' or ''Hitch-Hike'' (French: ''Les petits matins'') is a 1962 French comedy film directed by Jacqueline Audry and starring Darry Cowl, Pierre Mondy, and Lino Ventura.Smith p.119 Cast * Darry Cowl as Le journaliste * Pierre Mon ...

'' (1962) * '' Bitter Fruit'' (1967)

References

External links

*Retrospective with photos, posters, scripts, and documentation: *Bio, photos, clips: *Bio: Clips: *
Allmovie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Audry, Jacqueline 1908 births 1977 deaths People from Orange, Vaucluse French women film directors French film directors Road incident deaths in France 20th-century French women Filmmakers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Biography

Filmography

See also

References

External links