Michel Delahaye obit

Death of Michel Delahaye, film critic and actor

A journalist for "Cahiers du cinéma" from 1960 to 1970, and also a writer, he died on October 22 at the age of 87.

 He was not on the list.

It had been several years since his tall figure had walked the corridors of the Cinémathèque, which he had always loved to haunt, faithful to his youthful cinephile choices. Michel Delahaye died on Saturday, October 22, at the age of 87. He was a free spirit and a unique character, perfectly suited to the two main professional categories with which his life had associated him: film critic and actor.

He was born in 1929 in Vertou, Loire-Atlantique. His father, a son of a family, had given his entire fortune to the village parish and had chosen poverty. Michel Delahaye had a somewhat troubled youth, which earned him a stint in prison, working in all sorts of jobs, including newsagent, warehouseman, postal sorter, and bookseller. He discovered cinema by attending a parish hall where his uncle was a projectionist.

"The Great Green Syngtame"

He moved to Paris in 1956, where he worked as a journalist for Radar and Detective . After writing a few articles for the magazine of the French Federation of Film Clubs, Cinéma 57, 58 and 59 , he joined the Cahiers du cinéma, then directed by Eric Rohmer. He remained there until 1970. He wrote about filmmakers as diverse as Satyajit Ray, Jean Rouch, Marcel Pagnol, Jacques Demy, John Ford, Claude Autant-Lara, King Vidor. He accompanied the "modern" turn of the Cahiers, namely the takeover, in 1963, of Jacques Rivette over the "Hollywoodophiles" then led by Eric Rohmer. He interviewed Roman Polanski and Carl Theodor Dreyer, but also Roland Barthes with Rivette.

His approach is literary and intuitive. He is both open to the systems of thought that are emerging at the time, driven by the human sciences (the major issue of the Cahiers at the time) and at the same time deeply empirical. He is nicknamed "the Great Green Syntagm" as much, it seems, because of the color of his raincoat as his interest in semiology.

His departure from Cahiers du cinéma was painful. He was attacked by the editorial board as the magazine plunged into the delirious Maoist adventure. He was then considered a right-wing anarchist, an "anarcho-evangelist ," he boasted, beyond redemption, a "senile, loser hippie ," wrote a rival magazine eager to accelerate the Marxist-Leninist turn of Cahiers . Michel Delahaye held a deep grudge all his life against those who, he considered, set themselves up as a revolutionary tribunal to drive him out of Cahiers du cinéma .

Then began a new career for Michel Delahaye, that of an actor. His tall stature, his diction and his particular timbre of voice made him a sought-after character both by popular cinema in search of picturesque comedy figures ( Elle court, elle court la banlieue , by Gérard Pirès, Les Chinois à Paris , by Jean Yanne, Je sais rien mais je dirai tout , by Pierre Richard), by the eccentric and underground Jean Rollin for a work marked by low budgets and erotic-horrific poetry ( La Vampire nue , Le Frisson des vampires ), by authors of the New Wave like Jacques Rivette, who gave him a role in Out 1, or by François Truffaut ( Une belle fille comme moi ).

It is in the films produced by the Diagonale company, a breeding ground for talent under the authority of filmmaker Paul Vecchiali, that we will often find him. Without doubt, he gives the full measure of his great acting talent, in titles like Change pas de main or En haut des marches , by Paul Vecchiali, Simone Barbès ou la vertu , by Marie-Claude Treilhou, who offers him a moving sequence. He is a flirtatious and melancholic old croupier, in a car, in the early morning, letting his tears flow to the sound of Sérénade toscane , by Gabriel Fauré.

In 1974, he published the novel L'Archange et Robinson font du bateau (The Archangel and Robinson Go Boating ) with Champ Libre , evoking his youthful struggles. In 1984, he became a social worker for an association dependent on the DASS (Health and Social Welfare Department). Rediscovered by young critics, he wrote texts on cinema again in the 1990s for the magazine La Lettre du cinéma . A documentary, directed by Pascale Bodet and Emmanuel Levaufre, Le Carré de la fortune (The Square of Fortune ), was dedicated to him in 2007, and a collection of his texts, A la fortune du beau (Capricci), was published in 2014.

Michel Delahaye was born in 1929 in Vertou close to Nantes, Bretagne, France. Raised by a very religious father who was an ex-pilot of the Great War (World War I).

He attended a Jesuit private school in Saint Malo, during World War II, under the German invasion.

In 1951, he did his military service in Germany. In 1953, after being judged guilty of petty theft, he met the owner of a docking company who gave him a chance as a manager of transports, in Nantes seaport.

In 1956, he became a probationary in the postal services, then a factory worker. When he moved to Paris, he worked in news stands then in a book store, became a reporter for the "Radar" magazine, then worked at the prestigious "Detective" magazine.

He became a movie critic, then assistant director. Thanks to Éric Rohmer he started working for the world renowned "Les Cahiers du Cinema" revue in November 1959 with all the new wave of French directors, later starts teaching cinema at La FEMIS( formerly called l'HIDEC).

He had the privilege to work with 'Francois Truffaut', Jean-Luc Godard and interviewed Roman Polanski and Carl Theodor Dreyer, and many others. He was a close friend of Jean Renoir.

He was fired from "les Cahiers..." in the late 1969 for being an anti-Marxiste. So he became a security officer, then a full time actor for theater, movies and television.

In 1974 he wrote a novel "L'Archange et Robinson font du Bateau" destined to be a movie directed by Claude Miller and Gérard Depardieu as the lead role but the project never came to completion, so his script got published by the publishing house Champs Libre owned by Gerard Lebovici the founder of Artmedia agency.

 

In late 1984, he became a social worker in a emergency team named 24/24, but quit in 1994.

In 1998, he contributed to writing critics for "La Lettre du Cinema" and helped its young staff in screenwriting and acted in their movies.

He has two sons: Emmanuel the oldest and Mathew Lorenceau the youngest (5 years apart).

irector

Archipel des amours (1983)

Archipel des amours

4.5

Director (segment "Sara")

1983

 

Writer

At the Top of the Stairs (1983)

At the Top of the Stairs

6.9

dialogue collaborator

1983

 

Archipel des amours (1983)

Archipel des amours

4.5

Writer (segment "Sara")

1983

 

Simone Barbès ou la vertu (1980)

Simone Barbès ou la vertu

6.4

Writer

1980

 

Passe montagne (1978)

Passe montagne

6.5

written by

1978

 

Actor

Holy Motors (2012)

Holy Motors

7.0

Voix Limousine (voice)

2012

 

Horezon

3.6

2006

 

À vot' bon coeur (2004)

À vot' bon coeur

6.2

Membre de la Commission de l'Avance sur Recettes

2004

 

Le cou de Clarisse

5.8

Short

The man in the bar

2003

 

Mystification ou L'histoire des portraits (2003)

Mystification ou L'histoire des portraits

6.6

Le patient bègue

2003

 

Victor Schoelcher, l'abolition (1998)

Victor Schoelcher, l'abolition

6.9

TV Movie

Dupont de l'Eure

1998

 

Fugue en sol mineur

6.2

Short

1992

 

Les enfants volants

3.4

1991

 

Les jurés de l'ombre (1989)

Les jurés de l'ombre

7.4

TV Mini Series

Prosecutor

1989

1 episode

 

La comédie du travail (1988)

La comédie du travail

6.5

Le chef de l'ANPE

1988

 

Bonjour maître (1987)

Bonjour maître

TV Mini Series

1987

 

Cinéma 16 (1975)

Cinéma 16

6.7

TV Series

Le sous-préfet

1986

1 episode

 

À titre posthume (1986)

À titre posthume

7.2

TV Movie

1986

 

Simone (1985)

Simone

TV Movie

Marcellin

1985

 

The Telephone Always Rings Twice (1985)

The Telephone Always Rings Twice

5.8

Un journaliste

1985

 

Pascale Bardet and Hugues Quester in La reverdie (1984)

La reverdie

TV Series

Lombard

1984

 

Grandeur et décadence d'un petit commerce de cinéma (1986)

Black Sequence

6.4

TV Series

Le toubib

1984

1 episode

 

V'là l'travail!

Short

1983

 

Télévision de chambre (1982)

Télévision de chambre

4.2

TV Series

Le conteurM. Green

1982–1983

2 episodes

 

At the Top of the Stairs (1983)

At the Top of the Stairs

6.9

Le Nantais

1983

 

Nastassja Kinski in Exposed (1983)

Exposed

5.0

Man in the Street (Paris)

1983

 

Archipel des amours (1983)

Archipel des amours

4.5

Mathieu (segment "Sara")

1983

 

Introduction

Short

1982

 

Contes modernes (1979)

Contes modernes

7.4

TV Series

Le pèreMathieu Pelletier

1982

2 episodes

 

Lourdes l'hiver (1981)

Lourdes l'hiver

6.0

Short

Michoux

1981

 

L'homme de Hambourg

TV Movie

M. Montefiore

1981

 

Le troisième wagon

Michel

1981

 

Loin de Manhattan (1981)

Loin de Manhattan

6.7

1981

 

Fanny Ardant in La chute de la maison Usher (1981)

Histoires extraordinaires

6.5

TV Series

1981

1 episode

 

Corinne Hugnin, Suzanne Legrand, Juliette Mills, Sady Rebbot, Eva Renzi, Raphaëlle Schacher, and Geoffroy Ville in Papa Poule (1980)

Papa Poule

7.4

TV Series

M. Dardouillet

1980

1 episode

 

C'est la vie! (1980)

C'est la vie!

6.0

Le flic

1980

 

Romy Schneider in La banquière (1980)

La banquière

6.2

Le chef-comptable

1980

 

Simone Barbès ou la vertu (1980)

Simone Barbès ou la vertu

6.4

Le dragueur délicat

1980

 

Alain Cuny in Le journal (1979)

Le journal

6.6

TV Mini Series

L'avoué de Wilchaint

1979

3 episodes

 

Nicolas Silberg and Hélène Surgère in Drugstore Romance (1979)

Drugstore Romance

7.3

Platon

1979

 

L'homme sandwich

TV Movie

Commissaire de Police

1979

 

Un balcon en forêt (1978)

Un balcon en forêt

7.0

Le colonel

1978

 

L'argent des autres (1978)

L'argent des autres

6.8

L'archiviste Bignon

1978

 

Richard Constantini, Annie Girardot, Eléonore Klarwein, and Pierre Mondy in Take It from the Top (1978)

Take It from the Top

5.3

Le comptable

1978

 

Sonia Saviange and Howard Vernon in Le théâtre des matières (1977)

Le théâtre des matières

6.8

Le client

1977

 

La machine (1977)

La machine

7.2

Platon

1977

 

Loleh Bellon in Une seconde d'éternité (1977)

Une seconde d'éternité

TV Movie

1977

 

Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort (1977)

Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort

7.3

Le professeur

1977

 

L'aigle et la colombe (1977)

L'aigle et la colombe

4.2

Le psychiatre

1977

 

Ben et Bénédict (1977)

Ben et Bénédict

5.3

Le témoin au mariage

1977

 

Messieurs les jurés (1974)

Messieurs les jurés

5.4

TV Series

Le docteur Do Esperito

1977

1 episode

 

L'ombre des châteaux (1976)

L'ombre des châteaux

7.4

1976

 

Alain Delon in Mr. Klein (1976)

Mr. Klein

7.5

(uncredited)

1976

 

Je suis Pierre Rivière (1976)

Je suis Pierre Rivière

5.7

Le second médecin

1976

 

The Probability Factor (1976)

The Probability Factor

5.6

Un membre du conseil d'administration

1976

 

Let's Make a Dirty Movie (1976)

Let's Make a Dirty Movie

4.4

Boudon

1976

 

Monsieur Jadis (1975)

Monsieur Jadis

TV Movie

Le brigadier

1975

 

Mourir pour Copernic

TV Movie

Le prédicateur

1975

 

Claude Brasseur, Annie Girardot, and Sydne Rome in Il faut vivre dangereusement (1975)

Il faut vivre dangereusement

5.2

1975

 

Village Girls

5.4

Édouard Lalyre

1975

 

Don't Change Hands

5.4

Le colonel Bourgeois

1975

 

La brigade (1975)

La brigade

4.7

Le Rabin

1975

 

Act of Aggression (1975)

Act of Aggression

5.3

L'armurier

1975

 

Sérieux comme le plaisir (1975)

Sérieux comme le plaisir

5.4

1975

 

Catherine Deneuve and Bernadette Lafont in Zig-Zag (1975)

Zig-Zag

5.4

Le chauffeur

1975

 

Le jeu des preuves

Short

Lead role

1974

 

L'interminable chevauchée

Short

1974

 

Sonia Saviange and Hélène Surgère in Femmes femmes (1974)

Femmes femmes

6.9

Docteur

1974

 

Jean-Louis Trintignant, Marlène Jobert, and Philippe Noiret in The Secret (1974)

The Secret

6.7

Le Médecin

1974

 

La logeuse

TV Movie

Flugelmann

1974

 

Stéphane Audran and Eric Damain in Le cri du coeur (1974)

Le cri du coeur

5.5

1974

 

Les couples du Bois de Boulogne (1974)

Les couples du Bois de Boulogne

5.2

L'ingénieur

1974

 

Les Chinois à Paris (1974)

Les Chinois à Paris

6.2

L'ecclésiastique

1974

 

Pierre Richard in I Don't Know Much, But I'll Say Everything (1973)

I Don't Know Much, But I'll Say Everything

5.6

Le général

1973

 

Le noctambule (1973)

Le noctambule

TV Movie

Le noctambule

1973

 

Marthe Keller in Elle court, elle court, la banlieue (1973)

Elle court, elle court, la banlieue

5.7

Le chef du personnel (Mantes)

1973

 

Les jonquilles

7.1

Short

Adolphe

1972

 

Out 1: Spectre (1972)

Out 1: Spectre

7.2

L'homme sur la terasse

1972

 

Romantika (1972)

Romantika

Benedek Zoietta, építész

1972

 

Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider in Last Tango in Paris (1972)

Last Tango in Paris

6.8

Bible Salesman (scenes deleted)

1972

 

A Gorgeous Girl Like Me (1972)

A Gorgeous Girl Like Me

6.5

Marchal

1972

 

Michael Lonsdale and Jacques Dufilho in Chut! (1972)

Chut!

5.6

(as M. Delahaye)

1972

 

Un autre monde

1972

 

Camille ou La comédie catastrophique (1971)

Camille ou La comédie catastrophique

4.7

Short

Edmond, le père

1971

 

Out 1 (1971)

Out 1

7.4

Un ethnologue

1971

 

Ligia Branice in Blanche (1971)

Blanche

6.5

Le moine

1971

 

Love Hate (1971)

Love Hate

6.2

Le directeur de la prison

1971

 

The Saviour (1971)

The Saviour

6.4

Monnery

1971

 

The Shiver of the Vampires (1971)

The Shiver of the Vampires

5.6

1st vampire

1971

 

Donkey Skin (1970)

Donkey Skin

7.0

Le deuxième ministre

1970

 

Little by Little (1970)

Little by Little

7.4

1970

 

The Nude Vampire (1970)

The Nude Vampire

5.4

Grandmaster

1970

 

Juliet Berto in L'escadron Volapük (1970)

L'escadron Volapük

Le caporalLe nationaliste

1970

 

Winter Wind (1969)

Winter Wind

6.4

1969

 

Pierre et Paul (1969)

Pierre et Paul

6.6

1969

 

Jean-Pierre Kalfon and Bulle Ogier in Mad Love (1969)

Mad Love

7.3

MichelPhoenix

1969

 

Brigitte et Brigitte (1966)

Brigitte et Brigitte

6.3

Le surveillant de l'écrit de licence

1966

 

Liselotte Pulver, Anna Karina, and Micheline Presle in The Nun (1966)

The Nun

7.5

Un vicaire

1966

 

Eddie Constantine and Anna Karina in Alphaville (1965)

Alphaville

7.0

von Braun's Assistant (uncredited)

1965

 

Claude Brasseur, Sami Frey, and Anna Karina in Band of Outsiders (1964)

Band of Outsiders

7.6

Le portier

1964

 

Ro.Go.Pa.G. (1963)

Ro.Go.Pa.G.

6.8

(segment "Il nuovo mondo") (uncredited)

1963

 

Second Unit or Assistant Director

Le huitième jour (1960)

Le huitième jour

6.6

assistant director

1960

 

Additional Crew

Liselotte Pulver, Anna Karina, and Micheline Presle in The Nun (1966)

The Nun

7.5

technical consultant

1966

 

Les amours jaunes (1958)

Les amours jaunes

6.0

Short

artistic advisor

1958

 

Thanks

Toutes les histoires (1988)

Histoire(s) du cinéma

7.2

TV Mini Series

dedicatee

1999

1 episode

 

Simone Barbès ou la vertu (1980)

Simone Barbès ou la vertu

6.4

special thanks

1980

 

Self

Le carré de la fortune, portrait (2010)

Le carré de la fortune, portrait

Self

2010

 

The Ditvoorst Domains (1992)

The Ditvoorst Domains

6.5

1992

 

Pétain's Advent (1980)

Pétain's Advent

6.2

Narrator (voice)

1980

 

Grichka Bogdanoff and Igor Bogdanoff in Temps X (1979)

Temps X

6.0

TV Series

Leonardo Da Vinci (1981)

1979–1987

 

Stéphane Mallarmé in Toute révolution est un coup de dés (1977)

Toute révolution est un coup de dés

6.3

Short

(Ré)citant

1977

 

Wake Up, Mes Bons Amis! (1970)

Wake Up, Mes Bons Amis!

8.3

Critique de cinéma

1970

 

Archive Footage

Compression (1995)

Compression

7.2

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

2023

1 episode

 

Les Mystères de Paris: 'Out 1' de Jacques Rivette revisité (2015)

Les Mystères de Paris: 'Out 1' de Jacques Rivette revisité

8.0

Self (archive footage)

2015

 

Le fantôme d'Henri Langlois (2004)

Le fantôme d'Henri Langlois

7.7

Self (archive footage)

2004