Cécile Decugis
Cécile Decugis (May 15, 1930 – June 11, 2017) was a French film editor and director, known for her contributions to the French New Wave cinema. She worked on iconic films such as Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard and Shoot the Piano Player by François Truffaut. Decugis was also a longtime collaborator of director Éric Rohmer, editing nine of his feature films, including My Night at Maud’s.
Also recorded as Cecile Decugis
Cécile Decugis
- Full name
- Cécile Régine Decugis.
- Born
- 1930 · Marseille.
- Died
- 2017 · Boulogne-Billancourt.
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- film director · film editor · screenwriter
- Languages
- French
In this article
Early life and career
Cécile Régine Decugis was born in Marseille, France, on May 15, 1930. In the 1950s, she became involved with the Algerian independence movement and worked on several films related to the cause. One of her first directorial efforts was the 1957 short documentary Les Réfugiés, which depicted the plight of Algerian war refugees along the Algerian-Tunisian border.
Parallel to her activism, Decugis gained recognition as an editor, working on short films by François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, two leading figures of the Nouvelle Vague. Her editing work on Breathless (1960) is considered groundbreaking for its innovative jump cuts, which became a signature style of the movement.
Political involvement and imprisonment
On March 9, 1960, while working with Truffaut on Shoot the Piano Player, Decugis was arrested in Paris for having rented an apartment to a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front. She was sentenced to five years in prison and served two years at La Roquette prison. During this time, Truffaut provided her with financial support. She was released early due to good behavior.
Collaboration with Éric Rohmer
Decugis became Éric Rohmer’s primary editor in the late 1960s, editing many of his most acclaimed films, including My Night at Maud’s (1969), Claire’s Knee (1970), and The Marquise of O (1976). Her precise and thoughtful editing style greatly contributed to the quiet, introspective atmosphere of Rohmer’s films.
As editor
• Les Mistons (1957) – dir. François Truffaut (short)
• Breathless (1960) – dir. Jean-Luc Godard
• Shoot the Piano Player (1960) – dir. François Truffaut
• My Night at Maud’s (1969) – dir. Éric Rohmer
• Claire’s Knee (1970) – dir. Éric Rohmer
• The Marquise of O (1976) – dir. Éric Rohmer
• Pauline at the Beach (1983) – dir. Éric Rohmer
• Full Moon in Paris (1984) – dir. Éric Rohmer
As director
• Les Réfugiés (1957) – Documentary short
• Le Passage (1965) – Medium-length film
• Italie aller retour (1984) – Medium-length film
• La Distribution de pain (2011) – Documentary
• René ou le roman de mon père (2016) – Documentary
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.
Marseille.
Birth place
Boulogne-Billancourt.
Death place
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Cécile Decugis, revision 1369219171 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record.
Later work and legacy
In addition to her work as an editor, Decugis directed a number of short and medium-length films. Her 2016 film, René ou le roman de mon père, was a personal documentary featuring family photos and reflections on her father, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 37. Decugis died in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, on June 11, 2017, at the age of 87.
After her death, her directorial work was screened at retrospectives at the Cinémathèque Française in 2017 and the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in 2018.
Literature
• Hervé Hamon, Patrick Rotman, Les Porteurs de valises : la Résistance française à la guerre d'Algérie, Albin Michel, 1982
• Declan McGrath, Editing & post-production, Focal Press, 2001
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.Laure Croiset, «Figure clé de la Nouvelle Vague, la mort de Cécile Decugis passée sous silence» sur toutlecine.challenges.fr, 26 July 2017 https://toutlecine.challenges.fr/actualite-cinema/figure-cle-de-la-nouvelle-vague-la-mort-de-cecile-decugis-a-ete-passee-sous-silence_361933
- 2.Lieux de naissance et décès trouvés dans la base MatchId des fichiers de décès en ligne du Ministère de l'Intérieur avec les données INSEE (consultation 5 January 2020)
- 3.Cécile Decugis. Edited by - Women Film Editors.
- 4.Les Réfugiés sur fabriquedesens.fr
- 5.Antoine de Baecque, Serge Toubiana, François Truffaut, Gallimard, 2001
- 6.Saïd Mahrane, C'était en 58 ou en 59..., Calmann-Lévy, 2011 : dans cet ouvrage, l'auteur relate l'entretien qu'il a eu avec Cécile Decugis en mars 2010
- 7.Avis de décès
- 8.LES RÉFUGIÉS (LA DISTRIBUTION DE PAIN)- Cécile Decugis. Il Ritrovato.
Citations
References
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reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
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 30 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Film memorabilia
35,675 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Cecil SpoonerPerson
- Cecil ThiréPerson
- Cecile ArnoldPerson
- Cécile AubryPerson
- Cecile EmekePerson
- Cécile SorelPerson
- Cecilia AmenábarPerson
- Cécilia CaraPerson
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