Eustache, Jean

(November 30, 1938, Pessac, Gironde, France - November 3, 1981, Paris, France)

   Having trained as an electrician in Narbonne, he settled in Paris in 1958. While working at the SNCF (National Railway Society), he spent a lot of time in the French Cinematheque and in the offices of the Cahiers du Cinéma, where his wife was a secretary. He directed his first short in 1963 and edited several movies (1967 L'Accompagnement, short, Jean-André Fieschi; 1968 Les Idoles, Marc'O; 1971 Une Aventure de Billy le Kid / USA: A Girl and a Gun, Luc Moullet). He also played small parts (1962 Les Roses de la Vie, short, Paul Vecchiali; 1974 Céline et Julie vont en Bateau / USA: Celine and Julie Go Boating, Jacques Rivette; 1976 Vincent mit l'Âne dans un Pré, Pierre Zucca; 1977 Der Amerikanische Freund / L'Ami améric­ain / USA: The American Friend, Wim Wenders, West Germany / France; 1978 La Tortue sur le Dos / USA: Like a Turtle on Its Back, Luc Béraud). Philippe Garrel includes archive footage of him shot in 1966 in his documentary Les Ministères de l'Art (1988). In 1973, his film La Maman et la Putain / USA: The Mother and the Whore won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He shot himself three weeks before his forty-third birthday.

 Filmography

1963 ◘ Du Côté de chez Robinson / USA: Robinson's Place (short; also screenwriter, dialogist, actor)

1965 ◘ Le Père Noël a les Yeux bleus (medium-length; also screenwriter, dialogist, actor)

1968 ◘ La Rosière de Pessac (documentary; medium-length; also editor)

        ◘ Le Cochon (documentary; medium-length; co-director with Jean-Michel Barjol)

        ◘ Numéro Zéro (documentary; also actor, editor, producer; released in 2003; a shortened version was shown on TV in 1980 as Odette Robert)

        ◘ Aussi loin que mon Enfance (documentary; short; co-director with Marilù Parolini)

        ◘ La Maman et la Putain / USA: The Mother and the Whore (also screenwriter, dialogist, bit role, editor)

        ◘ Mes Petites Amoureuses (also screenwriter, dialogist, editor)

        ◘ Une Sale Histoire (medium-length; also actor, editor, producer; shot in 1976-1977)

        ◘ La Rosière de Pessac 1979 (documentary; also editor)

        ◘ Le Jardin des Délices de Jérôme Bosch (short)

        ◘ Offre d'Emploi (short)

        ◘ Les Photos d'Alix (short; also editor)