PARIS (AP) - Alain Corneau, the French filmmaker who leapt to international notice with the 1991 hit "Tous les Matins du Monde," a period drama about 17th-century musicians, has died, his talent agency said. He was 67.
Artmedia agency said Monday that Corneau, who was suffering from cancer, died overnight.
Throughout a career lasting more than 35 years, Corneau directed many legends of French cinema, including Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu.
Depardieu starred alongside his son Guillaume in "Tous les Matins du Monde" ("All the Mornings of the World"). The film, which depicted the uneasy relationship between a young and elderly musician in 17th-century France, won considerable critical acclaim at home and abroad.
It garnered seven Cesar awards, the French equivalent of the Academy Awards, and was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign film.
The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed Corneau as a "courageous man" and a "great director."
Through his films, "Corneau pursued an unceasing investigation into what makes humans human," Sarkozy's office said in a statement.
Born on Aug. 7, 1943, Corneau dabbled in music before making his start in cinema as an assistant for Greek-born filmmaker Costa-Gavras. Early on in his career, he made a series of thrillers, including "Choice of Arms," a 1981 gangster flick starring Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu and Yves Montand.
An avid follower of literature, Corneau adapted seven of his 16 films from novels. In 2003 he adapted Amelie Nothomb's "Stupeur et Tremblements" ("Fear and Trembling"), which starred actress Sylvie Testud as a foreigner struggling with strict workplace codes in Japan. She won the Cesar award for best actress.
Corneau's latest movie, "Love Crime," starring Kristin Scott Thomas, opened in France in mid-August.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press
To the Corneau family: Please accept my sincere condolences. Please be comforted by the fact that not only do you hold Alain in your memories but the God of all comfort does too. In the meantime, though, we can be assured that our loving Father will help us to endure the burden of our aches and pains because 'he cares for us.'
Karolyn Nichols
September 07, 2010 | Capitol Heights, MD
To Mrs. Corneau and family. May God bring you peace in your hearts as you reflect on all the wonderful memories you hold so dear and close to you. (Psalm 34:18) I wanted to send my condolonces to the family. While I didn't know him personally.
Marilynn
September 05, 2010 | MI
My prayers are for the Corneau family and friends, doing this time of bereavement. May Jehovah be with you at this time. Through your prayers He will comforted you and give you the peace you needed at this time.
Wanda Henry
September 04, 2010 | Windsor Mill, MD
Remembered By
Richard Herrick
September 03, 2010 | Costa Mesa, CA
I am an American woman who knew Alan in Orleans, France in the 1960's when he and my late husband Jean-Luc Vallet, pianist, often played in the American military clubs around Orleans. I shall continue to remember him as that polite, smiling, intelligent and respectful young man from Meung-sur-Loire. His wonderful mother and father were also my friends whom I saw many times in Alicante, Spain where we all vacationed. Thank heaven his life is outlined in the biography ''Projection Privee''. To...
Elizabeth Young Vallet
September 03, 2010 | Alicante, Spain
Our condolences to the Corneau family. May the "God of all comfort" be with you as you cope with your loss.
September 02, 2010
Lloyd Seebron & Family Jewett, Illinois
September 02, 2010
Cancer has claimed the lives of so many, including my parents. May the God of all comfort bring you peace during these trying times. My prayers are with you during this time of loss.
Sharon P
September 01, 2010 | Atlanta, GA
To the family: May the comfort from family and friends continue to strengthen you, and may you find comfort in the words found in the Holy Scriptures: "And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.
The former things have passed away."
May the wonderful memories of your loved one continue to provide comfort to you--until God's promise is fulfilled.
August 30, 2010
