Chapot, Jean

(November 15, 1930, Bois-Guillaume, Seine-Maritime, France - April 10, 1998, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France)

   He began playing as an amateur during the occupa­tion of France. Having graduated with his high school diploma in Paris, he got a scholarship for studying American literature at Amherst College, Massachu­setts (one of his teachers was poet Robert Frost). He traveled across the USA and met Ernest Hem­ingway at Havana. Having returned to France in 1951, he entered the Hautes Etudes Commerciales (High Business Studies School) but skipped classes to at­tend Tania Balachova's acting courses and to direct plays in Parisian suburbs. After graduating from the HEC in 1954, he was hired as an assistant direc­tor by stage and film actor and director Raymond Rouleau, with whom he worked for four years. He entered films as an assistant to director Alex Joffé (1957 Les Fanatiques / I fanatici / UK: The Fanatics / USA: A Bomb for the Dictator, France / Italy). After be­ing an assistant to Vittorio de Seta, Yves Ciampi, and Claude-Jean Bonnardot, he directed industrial films (1960 Monsieur Fortune) and shorts. He also worked as a production manager (1963 Les Abysses, Nikos Papatakis; 1975 Il faut vivre dangereusement, Claude Makovski; 1979 Charles et Lucie / USA: Charles and Lucie, also co-screenwriter, Nelly Kaplan; 1991 Plaisir d'Amour, Nelly Kaplan). Other credits (as assistant director, co-screenwriter): 1965 Le Ciel sur la Tête / Allarme dal cielo / Il cielo sulla testa / USA: Skies Above / US TV: Sky Above Heaven (Yves Ciampi, France / Italy); (as co-screenwriter): 1976 Néa / Nea—Ein Madchen entdeckt die Liebe / UK: A Young Emmanuelle, Nelly Kaplan; France / West Germany; 1987 Pattes de Velours, TV, also actor, Nelly Kaplan; 1999 La Petite Fille en Costume marin, 2 X 90', Marc Rivière). Novel: 1997 Les Amants de Saint-Petersbourg (Albin Michel).

 Filmography

1960 ◘ Monsieur Fortuné (short)

1962 ◘ Chronique d'une Epoque incertaine (short)

1966 ◘ La Voleuse / Schornstein Nr. 4 (also co-screenwriter; France / West Germany)

1968 ◘ Les Faivre (short)

1972 ◘ Le Fusil à Lunettes (short)

        ◘ Les Années Lumière (documentary; also co-screenwriter; France / Switzerland; shot in 1970)

1973 ◘ Les Granges brûlées / La mia legge (completed by Philippe Monnier; also screenwriter; France / Italy)

 Television Filmography

        ◘ Brigade des Mineurs (episode "Le Mal du Pays")

        ◘ Les Cinq dernières Minutes (episode "Les Loges du Crime"; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Docteur Teyran (3 X 90'; also screenwriter, adapter)

        ◘ Livingstone (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Les Cinq dernières Minutes (episode "La Ten­tation d'Antoine"; also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)

1982 ◘ Un Fait d'Hiver (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Ce fut un bel Eté (2 X 90'; also co-screenwriter)

1983 ◘ Les Cinq dernières Minutes (episode "Meurtre sans Pourboire")

1985 ◘ Le Regard dans le Miroir (4 X 60'; also co-screenwriter)

1987 ◘ Des Svatiskas en Chocolat / Le Crépuscule des

        ◘ Loups (2 X 90')

        ◘ Les Mouettes (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Honorin et la Lorelei (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Polly West est de Retour (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Honorin et l'Enfant prodigue (also co-screenwriter)