Death of Jean-Jacques Beineix: was the director sick?

Died at the age of 75, Jean-Jacques Beineix was the director of 37°2 le matin. He would have succumbed to a long illness, as revealed by two French media.

[Mis à jour le 14 janvier 2022 à 18h30] The family of Jean-Jacques Beineix announced this afternoon to Agence France Presse the death of the director and writer. Entering the cinema in the 1970s as an assistant director, Beineix had definitely passed behind the camera in the 1980s where he stood out with his films Diva (1980) or 37°2 le matin (1986 ), his greatest commercial success. In the 1990s, he then became interested in the documentary format, definitively abandoning films in 2001 with his final production Mortel transfert. He then became an author, of his own memoirs in 2006 and then of a novel in 2020.

It was on January 14, 2022 in the afternoon that we learned of the death of director Jean-Jacques Beineix. Having received the information from family sources, Agence France Presse confirmed the death of the filmmaker at the age of 75 on the evening of Thursday January 13, 2022. Little is known regarding the circumstances of the death. by Jean-Jacques Beineix but franceinfo explains that he died “following a long illness”. Le Parisien, meanwhile, specifies that Jean-Jacques Beineix would have “died of leukemia” in Paris “surrounded by his wife Agnès and his daughter Frida”.

Although 37°2 in the morning is probably the film that makes him go down in history, it is not the one that earned him the praise of his peers but Diva. Released in 1981, Diva is Jean-Jacques Beineix’s first feature film. We follow a postman who wants to record the concert of a diva without her consent. Following a disastrous combination of circumstances, he then becomes the target of a ruthless manhunt. Diva was subsequently rewarded at the César 1982 with four statuettes, that of the first work, the best music (the film regularly uses the aria from La Wally by Alfredo Catalini), the best cinematography and the best sound.

The Moon in the Gutter, his second film

In 1983, Jean-Jacques Beineix made his second feature film, The Moon in the Gutter. Following the suicide of her sister after she was raped, her brother Gérard swears to avenge her. With Gérard Depardieu in the title role, this second film is selected in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and enjoys the favor of critics but the public will not be there this time. It was not until his third film, 37°2 le matin, that he returned to commercial success.

In 1986, Jean-Jacques Beineix directed Béatrice Dalle and Jean-Hugues Anglade in 37°2 le matin, undoubtedly the best-known film of his career. The feature film marks viewers with its soundtrack on the piano but also for the sulphurous scenes between the two main actors that it propels to the rank of stars of French cinema. 37°2 le matin then achieved real international fame, appearing among the nominees for the Oscars but also for the Golden Globes. In France, he was awarded the César for best poster despite several nominations. The public is also at the rendezvous: more than 3.6 million entries are recorded despite its ban on those under 16!

From the 1990s, Jean-Jacques Beineix devoted himself to documentary production. He chained projects of the genre throughout the decade and signed nearly ten in his career. He is interested in quite diverse subjects, from Otaku: son of the virtual empire (1993) dedicated to passionate collectors in Japan to Place Clichy without complex (1994) which he filmed during the renovation of the Pathé Wépler cinema on the Place de Clichy in Paris. He made a documentary called The Children of Romania (1992) about the opening up of Romania after the revolution. In 1997, he unveiled his documentary entitled Assigné à residence, where he follows Jean-Dominique Bauby as he completes the writing of his book Le Scaphandre et le Papillon after coming out of a long coma following which he can no longer stand. express only by blinking the left eyelid.

The Children of Romania (1992)
Otaku: Son of the Virtual Empire (1993)
Place Clichy without complex (1994)
Making-of of Wings of Courage by Jean-Jacques Annaux (1994)
House arrest (1997)
Loft Paradox (2002)
The Gauls beyond the myth (2012)

After a career in cinema, Jean-Jacques Beineix devoted himself to writing. In 2006, he released his autobiography entitled “The sites of glory: memories” with Fayard editions. This volume of more than 800 pages allows him to return to the shooting of his first three films: Diva, The Moon in the Gutter and 37°2 in the Morning. Almost fifteen years later, in 2020, he published a novel entitled “Toboggan” with Michel Lafon.

Learn more

Biography of Jean-Jacques Beineix – Born October 8, 1946 in Paris and died January 13, 2022, Jean-Jacques Beineix is a French director and writer. After obtaining his baccalaureate, he abandoned his medical studies to try the competition for the IDHEC film school, without success. His career in the seventh French art began in 1969: he then worked as assistant director to Jean Becker on The Holy Darlings (1970 and 1971).

Jean-Jacques Beineix made his first feature film in 1980, Diva. His particular aesthetic of the look earned him to be noticed by critics. This allowed him to make The Moon in the Gutter two years later. After creating his own production company, Cargo Films, he released 37°2 le matin in 1986. This sulphurous romance with Jean-Hugues Anglade and Béatrice Dalle was a real success. He then directed Roselyne et les Lions (1989), IP5 (1992) and Mortel Transfert (2001), his last film.

After the cinema, Jean-Jacques Beineix launched into television documentaries and the writing of his memoirs. He will attempt several adaptations, such as The Name of the Rose, Evita or Goodbye Up There, but none will lead to a collaboration for the filmmaker. In 2015, he directed the play Kiki de Montparnasse, which will be his last directing project. Her first novel, Toboggan, was published in 2020.

Director Jean-Jacques Beineix died on the evening of January 13, 2022 in Paris. According to information from Le Parisien, the filmmaker would have succumbed to leukemia. Jean-Jacques Beineix was “surrounded by his wife Agnès and his daughter Frida” specifies the Ile-de-France daily.