Cayrol, Jean

(June 6, 191I, Bordeaux, Gironde, France - February 10, 2005, Bordeaux, France)

   At age fifteen, he created a literary review, Abeilles et Pensées, and published poems in the Cahiers du Sud at age eighteen. After completing his studies in law and literature, he worked as a librarian at the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce in 1935. During World War II, he joined the French Resistance in 1941. Arrested in 1942, he was interned in Fresnes jail and then deported to Mathausen concentration camp. Having returned to France, he wrote poems and novels (he won the Théophraste Renaudot Prize in 1947 for Je vivrai l'Amour des Autres). By 1950, he became literary adviser for the publisher Le Seuil and founded the review Ecrire, in which were published young writ­ers. His first contribution to cinema was the com­mentary of Nuit et Brouillard / UK and USA: Night and Fog (documentary, Alain Resnais, 1955). He made his directing debut in 1960 and co-signed most his films with novelist, former teacher, and future publisher Claude Durand. He wrote the screenplay and dia­logue of Alain Resnais's Muriel ou Le Temps d'un Retour / Muriel, il tempo di un ritorno / UK: Muriel, or The Time of Return / USA: The Time of Return (France / Italy). Two TV movies were adapted from his novels (1975 N'oubliez pas que nous aimons, Luc Godevais; 1978 Kakemono Hôtel, Franck Apprederis). He co-authored with Claude Durand an essay on cinema: 1963 Le Droit de Regard (Editions du Seuil).

 Filmography

1960 ◘ On vous parle (short; also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist; co-director with Claude Durand)

1961 ◘ La Frontière (short; also author of commen­tary; co-director with Claude Durand)

        ◘ Madame se meurt (short; also cinematographer; co-screenwriter, author of commentary, cinematographer; co-director with Claude Durand)

1963 ◘ De tout pour faire un Monde (short; also co-screenwriter, author of commentary; co-director with Claude Durand)

        ◘ Le Coup de Grâce (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist; co-director with Claude Durand; France / Canada)

        ◘ La Déesse (short; also screenwriter)

1970 ◘ Do Not Disturb ou Prière de ne pas déranger (short; also screenwriter)

 Television Filmography

1961 ◘ Les Spécialités de la Mer (short; co-director with Claude Durand)