Death of Jean-Jacques Beineix, eternal shady for whom films were "paths of light"

Article originally published on July 12, 2018.

When you can see it, Jean-Jacques Beineix consists of a ball at almost zero, a goatee of a musketeer, a dry laugh, rants, multiple fits of charm, a biker jacket and a crazy background for an adventurous shrink. But we can't see it anymore. He does not answer the phone, specifying, through a friend: “I only agree to speak to comrades in arms. »

This obviously excludes critics and journalists, described as “ayatollahs, brigadists in need of hard knocks, lovers of quarry, trench cleaners”. The cast-iron shrapnel grenade 38 kept in his office on which is written “im Ruhr Gemacht” may have been intended for them. Absent from the screens for eighteen years, this "stealth filmmaker" who revolutionized French cinema with films like "Diva", "The Moon in the Gutter" and "37°2 in the morning" has entered into silence.

From time to time, we learn that he is in Japan, to present paintings – yes, he paints. Or that he was invited to be part of a festival jury, at the end of the world. Or that he is suing – he is a whiner – against some ex-producer. Or that he practices yoga. But of cinema, not. The 1980s rebel gave way to a taciturn 71-year-old. He was once on a mission – to reform the cinema, and, who knows? the world – and