Bertrand Blier: The French filmmaker is dead

Bertrand Blier (1939-2025) is dead. The French filmmaker, known, among other things, for his works “The Savvy” (1973) and “You Meet the Murderer at the Buffet” (1979), died of old age on Monday evening (January 20th). of 85 years. A cause of death is not known.

Blier, whose film “Wife to Give Away” won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1979, has always been known for the provocative themes he dealt with in his films. In France, the director and screenwriter is also referred to as the “old master of the bad genre”; sexuality and eroticism are often the focus of his works. Gérard Depardieu (76) played the leading roles in several Blier films, including the Oscar-winning work. Blier also brought actresses such as Miou-Miou (74), Monica Bellucci (60), Isabelle Huppert (71) and Anouk Grinberg (61) in front of his camera.

He was in a relationship with the latter for several years and the two have a son together, born in 1993. Blier also had a daughter from his first marriage with his wife Françoise, to whom he was married for 20 years, and a daughter with actress Farida Rahouadj (59).

Bertrand Blier was born in 1939 as the son of the actor Bernard Blier (1916-1989). The director directed his first film, “If I Were a Spy,” in 1967, and he achieved greater success again in 2010 with the comedy film “The Sound of Ice Cubes.” Most recently he released the film “Convoi exceptionnel” in 2019. In later years he also worked as a writer, for example writing the erotic novel “The Lingerie Salesman. Confessions of a Murderer” (original French title: “Existe en blanc”) from 1999.