Bertrand Tavernier
Bertrand Tavernier (French pronunciation: [bɛʁtʁɑ̃ tavɛʁnje]; 25 April 1941 – 25 March 2021) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer.
Bertrand Tavernier

Georges Seguin (Okki) · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Full name
- Bertrand René Maurice Tavernier.
- Born
- 1941. · Lyon.
- Died
- 2021. · Sainte-Maxime.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- screenwriter, film producer, writer, actor and director.
- Fields
- film direction, film screenwriting and film production.
- Education
- Lycée Henri-IV.
- Honours
- Louis Delluc Prize, César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation, César Award for Best Director, National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Cannes Best Director Award and César Award for Best Adaptation.
- Languages
- French.
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Documentary summary
Bertrand Tavernier (French pronunciation: [bɛʁtʁɑ̃ tavɛʁnje]; 25 April 1941 – 25 March 2021) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer.
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Note VALÉORINE
Bertrand Tavernier (1941–2021) was an actor, director and film producer, among other activities, of French nationality. The actor was born Bertrand René Maurice Tavernier in Lyon and died in Sainte-Maxime.
Bertrand Tavernier was educated at Lycée Henri-IV. The actor worked for Cahiers du cinéma and lived in Lyon. Activity centred on film direction, film production and film screenwriting.
Languages used include French. Works are held at Museum of Modern Art. Honours include Cannes Best Director Award, César Award for Best Adaptation and César Award for Best Director, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q337226 · wikipedia · Bertrand Tavernier
In this article
Life and career
Life and career
Bertrand Tavernier studied at Lycée Henri-IV. The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is film direction, film screenwriting and film production. Satyajit Ray is recorded as an influence. Residence is recorded at Lyon. Employment is recorded with Cahiers du cinéma. Work by Bertrand Tavernier is recorded in the collections of Museum of Modern Art. Distinctions recorded are Louis Delluc Prize, César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation, César Award for Best Director and National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Tavernier was born in Lyon, France, the son of Geneviève (née Dumond) and René Tavernier, a publicist and writer, several years president of the French PEN club. He said his father's publishing of a wartime resistance journal and aid to anti-Nazi intellectuals shaped his moral outlook as an artist. According to Tavernier, his father believed that words were "as important and as lethal as bullets". Tavernier's politics were influenced by the 1968 general strike in France. He was particularly struck by the writing of Leon Trotsky and associated with the OCI between 1973 and 1975. Tavernier aspired to become a filmmaker from the time he was 13 or 14 years old. He cited John Ford, William Wellman, Jean Renoir, Jean Vigo and Jacques Becker as among his cinematic influences. He entered the film industry as a publicist, where he worked for Jean-Pierre Melville and Jean-Luc Godard. Later, his first film (The Clockmaker, 1974) won the Prix Louis Delluc and the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize award at the 24th Berlin International Film Festival. Tavernier's early films were often mysteries and thrillers that carried a social critique, such as The Judge and the Assassin (1976) and Coup de Torchon (1981), while his later work is characterized by a more overt social commentary, highlighting his left-wing views (Life and Nothing But (1989), Captain Conan (1996)) and presenting a critical picture of contemporary French society (It All Starts Today (1999), Histoires de vies brisées: les double-peine de Lyon (2001)).
Personal life
Personal life
Tavernier was married to screenwriter Colo Tavernier O'Hagan from 1965 to 1981. They had two children. Their son, Nils Tavernier (born 1 September 1965), works as both a director and actor. Their daughter, Tiffany Tavernier (born in 1967), is a novelist, screenwriter and assistant director.
Death
Death
Tavernier died on 25 March 2021 at age 79.
Filmography
Filmography
Short film Documentary film TV movie Les enfants de Thiès (2001) Feature film Other credits

Bertrand Tavernier au festival du cinéma américain de Deauville
Georges Biard
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1987
LA PASSION BÉATRICE ( Julie Delpy, Bertrand Tavernier, 1987) (1987) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
2021
Bertrand Tavernier died at Sainte-Maxime.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Lyon.
Residences
Sainte-Maxime.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
reference work
- “Bertrand Tavernier”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q337226: Bertrand Tavernier
Unverified · Wikidata
Honours and awards
In 1986, his film Round Midnight won two César Awards (Best Original Music and Best Sound), the Best Film Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Oscar for Best Music (Original Score) at the 1987 Academy Awards. His film Life and Nothing But won the BAFTA for best film in a language other than English in 1990 and several César Awards, amongst others. In 1995, his film L'Appât won the Golden Bear Award at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival. Four years later, his film It All Starts Today won an Honourable Mention at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival. His film The Princess of Montpensier competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Tavernier was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 42nd International Film Festival of India in Goa for his outstanding achievements and work in the film industry.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Maslin, Janet. Clean Slate (1981) 'Coup De Torchon,' Life in a French Colony. The New York Times. 20 December 1982.
- 2.Filmreference.com. 10 April 2012.
- 3.Bertrand Tavernier speaks with the WSWS. World Socialist Web Site. 22 January 2009.
- 4.Berlinale 1974: Prize Winners. berlinale.de.
- 5.IMDb name 851724 section=awards
- 6.IMDb title tt0098596 awards
- 7.Berlinale: 1995 Prize Winners. berlinale.de.
- 8.Berlinale: 1999 Prize Winners. berlinale.de.
- 9.Hollywood Reporter: Cannes Lineup. Hollywood Reporter. 15 April 2010.
- 10.Cinema reaches newer heights, says Tavernier. The Hindu. 2011-11-24. 0971-751X.
- 11.Higgins, Lynn A. Bertrand Tavernier: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. 2016-09-23. 978-1-4968-0769-4.
- 12.Nils Tavernier. AlloCiné.
- 13.TAVERNIER Tiffany Auteur • SABINE WESPIESER ÉDITEUR. SABINE WESPIESER ÉDITEUR.
- 14.Tiffany Tavernier. BFI. October 2023.
- 15.Tartaglione, Nancy. Bertrand Tavernier Dies: Legendary French Filmmaker Was 79. Deadline Hollywood. 25 March 2021.
- 16.Bertrand Tavernier. BFI.
- 17.Philippe Soupault et le surréalisme. 419260572.
- 18.La Trace. 408426735.
- 19.The French minister. 882931090.
- 20.61 edition. 2013 Awards. (Jury Prize for Best Screenplay). sansebastianfestival.com.
References
Citations
References
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Unverified
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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