André Téchiné

Wide-eyed country boy Andre Techine relocated to Paris from his provincial hometown in southwest France at the age of 19 and, though he did not gain admittance to his country's top film school, was soon writing movie reviews for the prestigious CAHIERS DU CINEMA. He made his directorial debut with "Pauline s'en va" (1969) and followed with "Souvenirs d'en France" (1976), while providing screenplays for other directors (i.e., Liliane Dekermadec's "Aloise" 1975). He demonstrated his flair for richly textured, atmospheric storytelling with the aptly titled thriller "Barocco" (1977), starring Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani, but faltered somewhat with the sluggish, well-crafted "The Bronte Sisters" (1978)--worthwhile mainly for the superlative performances of Isabelle Huppert, Marie-France Pisier and Adjani, as well as the sole dramatic outing of literary theorist Roland Barthes (a fan of Techine's) in the role of William Thackery. The director himself has said: "I think my first films were too theoretical. They were too inspired by cinema, and not by real life."