For exactly 40 years, the prolific Verneuil made movies as mainstream and commercial as any to be found in America or Britain. In his best period – the 1950s and 1960s – he delivered films in the "tradition of quality" so despised by the Nouvelle Vague. Many of them proved excellent vehicles for old-timers Jean Gabin and Fernandel, and newcomers such as Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon.[1]
Verneuil was born Ashot Malakian (Armenian: Աշոտ Մալաքեան) to Armenian parents in Rodosto, East Thrace, Turkey.[2] In 1924, when Ashot was a little child his family fled to Marseille in France,[3] to escape persecution after the Armenian Genocide.[2][1] He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel Mayrig, which he dedicated to his mother and made into a 1991 film with the same name, which was followed by a sequel, 588 Rue Paradis, the following year.[4]
Verneuil entered the École Nationale d'Arts et Metiers in Aix-en-Provence in 1942. After graduation, he worked as a journalist, then became editor of Horizon Armenian magazine.
In 1947, Verneuil managed to convince the established European film actor Fernandel to appear in his first film.[5]
In 1951 he directed his first feature, the black comedy La Table aux crevés. His second film, Forbidden Fruit (1952), based on a Georges Simenon novel, was even more acclaimed.
After the American experience (he was called the "most American of French directors"), in 1969 Verneuil "found" France. He was awarded a César[9] in 1996 and he was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in 2000. He died at Bagnolet, a suburb of Paris, in 2002.
The opening of the seventh annual Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan paid tribute to Verneuil. His son, television director Patrick Malakian, who reclaimed the name of his historical ancestors, received the posthumous award, the Parajanov's Thaler, for his father's contribution to cinema.
Jean-Paul Belmondo is a French actor initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s and one of the biggest French film stars of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. His best known credits include Breathless (1960) and That Man from Rio (1964).
Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin was a French actor and sometime singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films including Pépé le Moko (1937), La grande illusion (1937), Le Quai des brumes (1938), La bête humaine (1938), Le jour se lève (1939), and Le plaisir (1952). Gabin was made a member of the Légion d'honneur in recognition of the important role he played in French cinema.
Mayrig
Mayrig (Mother) is a 1991 semi-autobiographical film written and directed by French-Armenian filmmaker Henri Verneuil. The film's principal cast includes Claudia Cardinale and Omar Sharif. It is about the struggles of an Armenian family that emigrates to France from Turkey after the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
José Giovanni
José Giovanni was the pseudonym of Joseph Damiani, a French writer and film-maker of Corsican origin who became a naturalized Swiss citizen in 1986.
The Sicilian Clan
The Sicilian Clan is a 1969 French gangster film directed by Henri Verneuil and written by José Giovanni, Pierre Pélégri and Verneuil, based on the novel by Auguste Le Breton. The film was largely marketed by casting together three of the leading French actors of the time: Jean Gabin, Lino Ventura, and Alain Delon. The film's score was composed by Ennio Morricone.
588 rue paradis
588 rue paradis is a 1992 semi-autobiographical film written and directed by French-Armenian filmmaker Henri Verneuil. The film's principal cast includes Richard Berry, Claudia Cardinale and Omar Sharif. It was preceded by Mayrig, the first autobiographical movie of Henri Verneuil.
Le Premier Cercle
Le Premier Cercle, also known as Inside Ring and "The Dead List" in English and as Ultimate Heist on USA video, is a 2009 French-language film by Laurent Tuel.
One Hundred and One Nights
One Hundred and One Nights is a 1995 French comedy film directed by Agnès Varda. It was entered into the 45th Berlin International Film Festival.
Day and Night (1997 film)
Day and Night is a 1997 French drama film directed by philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy and starring Alain Delon, Lauren Bacall, Arielle Dombasle and Francisco Rabal. The film follows a French author who fled to Mexico for a quiet life and an actress who is willing to seduce him to get a part in a film adapted from one of his books. It is considered by some to be one of the worst films of all time.
Body of My Enemy
Le Corps de mon ennemi is a 1976 French crime film directed by Henri Verneuil.
The Most Wanted Man
The Most Wanted Man is a 1953 French-Italian comedy film directed by Henri Verneuil.
