Odiar, Jacques

Born April 30, 1952 in the family of the famous screenwriter and director Michel Odiar . Despite this, he was preparing to become a teacher, but dropped out of his second year for the sake of cinema. He worked as an editor.

In the early 1980s, he tried himself in scripting. He wrote scripts for films such as " Professional " (with Belmondo in the title role), Elusive Bob / Reveillon chez Bob /, Death Walk / Mortelle randonnee /, Baxter / Baxter /, Radio Frequency Killing / Frequence meurtre /.

In 1994, Jacques made his first film - Watch the people fall / Regarde les hommes tomber / (1994). The gloomy road movie about the relationship between completely different people ( Mathieu Kassovitz and Jean-Louis Trentignan ) brought the director the prestigious Cesar Award for "Best Debut" and the "Georges Sadul" Award.

In the next project, Odiar again invited Mathieu Kassovitz to the main role. His second film, The Unknown Hero / Un heros tres discret / Jacques shot based on the novel of the same name by Jean-Francois Denot. This is a story about a guy who falsified participation in the French Resistance, who becomes a national hero.

He considers himself only a master in the field of cinema, and therefore passes five whole years before setting his third film “ Read on the Lips ” (2001), a love story against the background of a cruel detective, with Emmanuelle Devo and Vincent Cassel in the lead roles. This third film, based on the novel by Tonino Benaquista, brought him 9 nominations for the César Award , including “Best Film”, “Best Director”, “Best Actor” ( Vincent Cassel ). As a result, the tape was awarded three awards: "Best Actress" ( Emmanuelle Devo ), as well as for the script and sound. Benaquista is also a poet of losers, only treats them much more tender than Odiar, and even gives them the right to a miracle. “Lip-to-lip” is the story of two exemplary “losers,” whom nothing shines in life. She is a secretary with a minimum of external data, but deaf. She knows how to read lips, but she has nothing to read, except for the greasings released by her colleagues in the office, until a young man who has just left prison is hired.

In 2015, the film " Dipan " was awarded the "Golden Palm Branch" of the Cannes Film Festival .

In 2019, he received the award of the French Cesar Film Festival as the best director (the film "Brothers Sisters").