Biography
Jacques Becker was born in Paris to wealthy Scottish-French parents. He met his friend and mentor Jean Renoir through Paul Cézanne (son of the Impressionist painter), and the two shared a love of film, particularly Von Stroheim’s Greed (1924). Becker worked as assistant to Renoir throughout the latter’s 1930s golden period before forging his own directorial career. Indeed, Becker’s fastidiousness has often been cited as the necessary counterbalance to Renoir’s more esoteric whims, and the results include such masterpieces as Boudu Sauvé des Eaux (1932), Une Partie de Campagne (1935) and La Grande Illusion (1937). Between projects, Becker experimented unsatisfactorily on a number of his own cinematic projects.
While his colleagues fled the German Occupation of France, Becker joined the Comité de libération du cinéma français—a sort of cinematic resistance movement—and as a result spent a year in a Nazi prison camp. His first feature as director, Le Dernier Atout (1942), was a competent detective comedy, displaying Becker’s meticulous approach to filmmaking and reaping modest rewards. His reputation grew with the atmospheric thriller Goupi Mains Rouges (1943), the first new French film to be released in post-war America. Becker later claimed that, after a short season, MGM destroyed all their prints, lest Goupi compete with their own Hollywood-made fare.
Becker’s emphasis on detail earned him the moniker “the mechanic”. His stories often revolved around ensembles and the personal traits and behaviours of individuals within groups, placing them variously within very specific milieux: Paris’ haute couture industry for Falbalas (1946), for example, or the fin de siècle Parisian underworld for the romantic tour de force, Casque d’Or (1952). Awarded “Best Psychological and Love Film” at Cannes, Antoine et Antoinette (1947) is a masterful examination of life’s minutiae, in which he perfected the art of creating an affecting silence, where pauses in dialogue and action practically crackle with intensity. Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954), a noir-esque policier, epitomises Becker’s talent for portraying these seemingly unnecessary details of life, resurrected the career of the great Jean Gabin. But it is the prison-escape drama Le Trou (1960) which is considered his masterpiece, a reduction of cinema to its core dramatic elements. Becker died before the release of Le Trou, and is buried in Montparnasse Cemetery. His son Jean is also a director.
