Acting
Robert Hossein
Robert Hossein was a French film actor of Parsi origin, director and writer. He directed the 1982 adaption of Les Misérables, and appeared in Vice and Virtue, Le Casse, Les Uns et les Autres and Venus Beauty Institute. His most recent roles include starring as Michèle Mercier's husband in the Angélique series and as a Catholic priest who falls in love with Claude Jade and becomes a communist in Prêtres interdits (Forbidden Priests) in 1973. Hossein started directing films in 1956 with Les salauds vont en enfer from a story by Frédéric Dard whose novels and plays went on to furnish Hossein with much of his later film material. Right from the start Hossein established his characteristic trademarks: using a seemingly straightforward suspense plot and subverting its conventions (sometimes to the extent of a complete disregard of the traditional demand for a final twist or revelation) in order to concentrate on ritualistic relationships. This is the director's running preoccupation which is always stressed in his films by an extraordinary command of film space and often striking frame compositions where the geometry of human figures and set design is used to accentuate the psychological set-up of the scene. The mechanisms of guilt and the way it destroys relationships is another recurring theme, presumably influenced by Hossein's lifelong interest in the works of Dostoyevski. Although Hossein had some modest international successes with films like Toi, le venin and Le vampire de Dusseldorf, he was much singled out for scorching criticism by the critics and followers of the New Wave for the unashamedly melodramatic frameworks of his films. The fact that he was essentially an auteur director with a consistent set of themes and an extraordinary mastery of original and unusual approaches to staging his stories, was never appreciated. He was not averse to trying his hand at widely different genres and was never defeated, making the strikingly different spaghetti western Une corde, un Colt and the low-budgeted but daringly subversive period drama J'ai tué Raspoutine. However, because of the lack of wider success and continuing adverse criticism, Hossein virtually ended his film directing career in 1970, having concentrated on theatre where his achievements were never questioned, and subsequently returning to film directing only twice. With two or three exceptions, his films remain commercially unavailable and very difficult to see. He is the son of André Hossein a Zoroastrian French composer of Azerbaijani-Tajik descent, and a Jewish comedy actress from Kiev. He was married three times: first to Marina Vlady (he has two sons with her, Pierre and Igor), later to Caroline Eliacheff (with whom he has a son, Nicholas). He is currently married to actress Candice Patou, with whom he has one son, Julien. According to an article written by Emannuel Peze, Hossein experienced a conversion to Catholicism in 1971 during a visit to the Marian apparition at San Damiano in Lombardo Italy. Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Hossein, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
Picking Strawberries
Film · 2025
Love Is Better Than Life
Film · 2022
Raymond Devos dans tous ses sens
Film · 2022
Belmondo: The Incorrigible
Film · 2022
Hossein, Ronet, Trintignant : Confidences de trois acteurs inoubliables
Film · 2021
Noni : Le Fruit de l'espoir
Film · 2020
Aznavour by Charles
Film · 2019
Belmondo by Belmondo
Film · 2016
Marie-France Pisier, une femme sous influence
Film · 2014
Belmondo, il était une fois le beau monde
Film · 2011
Belmondo, itinéraire...
Film · 2011
Une femme nommée Marie
Film · 2011
A Man and His Dog
Film · 2009
Les fleurs maladives de Georges Franju
Film · 2009
Du rififi chez les hommes - Jules Dassin, l'élégance du noir
Film · 2009
The Little Murders of Agatha Christie
Series · 2009
Annie Girardot, ainsi va la vie
Film · 2008
Trivial
Film · 2007
Denn sie kennen kein Erbarmen - Der Italowestern
Film · 2006
Petits Meurtres en famille
Series · 2006
Le Juge
Series · 2005
San Antonio
Film · 2004
Antigone
Film · 2003
Venus Beauty Institute
Film · 1999
Scandalous Crimes
Film · 1999
Vivement dimanche
Series · 1998
The Wax Mask
Film · 1997
Les Miserables
Film · 1995
Paradjanov, le dernier collage
Film · 1995
L'Affaire
Film · 1994
Stranger in the House
Film · 1992
Le Gorille
Series · 1990
Stars 90
Series · 1990
Children of Chaos
Film · 1989
La croisade des enfants
Film · 1988
Levy & Goliath
Film · 1987
Nulle part ailleurs
Series · 1987
Téléthon
Series · 1987
Sacrée soirée
Series · 1987
A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later
Film · 1986
Le Caviar rouge
Film · 1986
Surprise Party
Film · 1983
The Big Pardon
Film · 1982
Champs-Elysées
Series · 1982
The Professional
Film · 1981
Bolero
Film · 1981
Démons de midi
Film · 1979
Henry James Stories
Series · 1976
The Phoney
Film · 1975
Apostrophes
Series · 1975
The Protector
Film · 1974
Le Tour d'Écrou
Film · 1974
Spécial cinéma
Series · 1974
Prêtres interdits
Film · 1973
Don Juan or If Don Juan Were a Woman
Film · 1973
A Police Officer Without Importance
Film · 1973
A Murder Is a Murder
Film · 1972
Hellé
Film · 1972
Le Grand Échiquier
Series · 1972
Le Grand Échiquier
Series · 1972
Midi trente
Series · 1972
The Burglars
Film · 1971
Judge Roy Bean
Film · 1971
The Lion's Share
Film · 1971
Samedi soir
Series · 1971
Versatile Lovers
Film · 1970
Time of the Wolves
Film · 1970
Falling Point
Film · 1970
Cemetery without Crosses
Film · 1969
The Battle of El Alamein
Film · 1969
The Conspirators
Film · 1969
Desert Assault
Film · 1969
The Scarlet Lady
Film · 1969
Misdeal
Film · 1969
Life Love Death
Film · 1969
Crime Thief
Film · 1969
Angelique and the Sultan
Film · 1968
A Little Virtuous
Film · 1968
Tender Moment
Film · 1968
OSS 117 Murder for Sale
Film · 1968
Once Upon a Time in the West
Film · 1968
Untamable Angelique
Film · 1967
La Musica
Film · 1967
I Killed Rasputin
Film · 1967
Lamiel
Film · 1967
The Man Who Betrayed the Mafia
Film · 1967
Angelique and the King
Film · 1966
Long March
Film · 1966
Mademoiselle de Maupin
Film · 1966
The Other Truth
Film · 1966
Brigade Anti Gangs
Film · 1966
The Vampire of Dusseldorf
Film · 1965
God's Thunder
Film · 1965
Marco the Magnificent
Film · 1965
The Dirty Game
Film · 1965
Le commissaire mène l’enquête
Film · 1965
Angelique
Film · 1964
Death of a Killer
Film · 1964
Marked Eyes
Film · 1964
Why Paris?
Film · 1964
Shadow of Evil
Film · 1964
Highway Pick-Up
Film · 1963
Enough Rope
Film · 1963
Vice and Virtue
Film · 1963
Of Flesh and Blood
Film · 1963
Love on a Pillow
Film · 1962
Paris Pick-Up
Film · 1962
Hitch-Hike
Film · 1962
The Game of Truth
Film · 1961
The Taste of Violence
Film · 1961
Madame
Film · 1961
The Menace
Film · 1961
The Wretches
Film · 1960
Take Me As I Am
Film · 1960
Blonde in a White Car
Film · 1959
Riff Raff Girls
Film · 1959
The Verdict
Film · 1959
The Road to Shame
Film · 1959
Double Agents
Film · 1959
Stars Meet in Moscow
Film · 1959
Provisional Liberty
Film · 1958
Young Girls Beware
Film · 1957
No Sun in Venice
Film · 1957
Crime and Punishment
Film · 1956
Forgive Our Trespasses
Film · 1956
Cinépanorama
Series · 1956
Rififi
Film · 1955
The Wicked Go to Hell
Film · 1955
Série noire
Film · 1955
Quai des blondes
Film · 1954
Reflets de Cannes
Series · 1954
Maya
Film · 1949
Sextette
Film · 1948
The Devil Who Limped
Film · 1948
In the Eyes of Memory
Film · 1948