Olivier Assayas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Olivier Assayas
Assayas in 2010
Born	(1955-01-25) 25 January 1955 (age 70) Paris, France
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, film critic
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Maggie Cheung ​ ​ (m. 1998; div. 2001)​
Partner(s)	Mia Hansen-Løve (2002–2017)
Children	1

Olivier Assayas (born 25 January 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He is known for making many different kinds of movies. These include historical films, exciting psychological thrillers, detective stories, and comedies. He has directed films in French, Spanish, and English, working with actors from all over the world.

Olivier's father, Jacques Rémy, was also a filmmaker. Olivier started his career writing for a famous film magazine called Cahiers du Cinéma. There, he wrote about movies from around the world and the special directors who made them. These directors later inspired his own work. Assayas made several short films before directing his first full-length movie, Disorder, in 1986.

His film Cold Water (1994) was a big step forward in his career. It was the first of his films to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival, a very important film event. Other films like Irma Vep (1996), Sentimental Destinies (2000), Demonlover (2002), and Clean (2004) also competed for the top prize at Cannes, called the Palme d'Or. In 2006, he made a short film for the movie Paris, je t'aime.

Assayas has received much praise for his dramas, including Summer Hours (2008), Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), and Personal Shopper (2016). For Personal Shopper, he won the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed the comedy Non-Fiction (2018) and the spy thriller Wasp Network (2019).

Life and Career

Early Life and Family

Olivier Assayas was born in Paris, France. His father, Raymond Assayas, was a French director and screenwriter. His mother, Catherine de Károlyi, was a fashion designer. Olivier's father had Turkish-Jewish roots, and his mother was of Hungarian origin.

Olivier began helping his father in the film industry. He even wrote episodes for TV shows his father was working on when his father's health was not good.

Working as a Film Critic

While working at the film magazine Cahiers du cinéma, Assayas wrote about many European and Asian film directors he admired. He even made a documentary called HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-hsien about the Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien.

Personal Life and Relationships

Assayas married actress Maggie Cheung in 1998. They divorced in 2001 but remained friends. Maggie Cheung later starred in his 2004 film Clean.

He also had a relationship with actress and director Mia Hansen-Løve. They met when she was 17 and starred in his 1998 film Late August, Early September. They started dating a few years later and separated in 2017.

Notable Films and Awards

Olivier Assayas's film Irma Vep was a big success. It starred Maggie Cheung and was a tribute to both French director Louis Feuillade and movies from Hong Kong.

In 2010, Assayas directed and co-wrote the French TV miniseries Carlos. This series was about the life of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez. The actor Édgar Ramírez won an award for his performance as Carlos.

In April 2011, Assayas was chosen to be a member of the jury at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. This meant he helped decide which films would win awards.

His 2012 film Something in the Air was chosen to compete at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. Assayas won an award for Best Screenplay at this festival. His 2014 film Clouds of Sils Maria also competed for the top prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Clouds of Sils Maria won the Louis Delluc Prize and was nominated for six César Awards, which are like the French Oscars. Actress Kristen Stewart won a César Award for her role in the film. In 2016, Assayas won the Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival) for his film Personal Shopper, which also starred Kristen Stewart.

In June 2017, Assayas was chosen to lead the jury at the Locarno Film Festival.

Style and Influences

Olivier Assayas has talked about the artists who influenced his work. He mentioned that filmmaker Robert Bresson and writer Guy Debord were very important to his way of thinking and making movies.

In a 2012 poll of directors by Sight & Sound magazine, Assayas shared his ten favorite films. These included famous movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, and The Tree of Life.

Filmography

Movies

Year	Title	Director	Screenwriter
1986	Disorder	Yes	Yes
1989	Winter's Child	Yes	Yes
1991	Paris Awakens	Yes	Yes
1993	A New Life	Yes	Yes
1994	Cold Water	Yes	Yes
1996	Irma Vep	Yes	Yes
1998	Late August, Early September	Yes	Yes
2000	Sentimental Destinies	Yes	Yes
2002	Demonlover	Yes	Yes
2004	Clean	Yes	Yes
2006	Paris, je t'aime	Yes	Yes
2007	Boarding Gate	Yes	Yes
2008	Summer Hours	Yes	Yes
2012	Something in the Air	Yes	Yes
2014	Clouds of Sils Maria	Yes	Yes
2016	Personal Shopper	Yes	Yes
2018	Non-Fiction	Yes	Yes
2019	Wasp Network	Yes	Yes
2024	Suspended Time	Yes	Yes
0TBA	The Wizard of the Kremlin	Yes	Yes

As a writer only

• Passage secret (1985)
• Rendez-vous (1985)
• L'Unique (1986)
• Scene of the Crime (1986)
• Avril brisé (1987)
• Filha da Mãe (1990)
• Alice and Martin (1998)
• Based on a True Story (2017) - Co-written with Roman Polanski

Television Shows

Short Films

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Olivier Assayas para niños