The cinema of Claude Zidi
of Thibault Decoster
Publisher : Editions Lett Motif (October 31, 2019)
Language : French
Number of pages : 300 pages
Pierre Richard, Louis de Funès, Coluche, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Thierry Lhermitte, the Charlots… They have all been the stars of Claude Zidi's cult comedies once or more. Ultimate box-office champion, considered the specialist in French-style comedy, Zidi made his debut in totally unbridled burlesque cinema ( Les Bidasses en folie, L'Aile ou la thigh, Les Sous-Doués , etc.) and then branch off into more societal and genre comedies starting with Les Ripoux, the first comedy in history to have won three Césars (including those for best director and best film). Unknown to the general public and ignored by film buffs, this book rehabilitates the rich and crazy work of Claude Zidi, by analyzing the different themes and recurring motifs that make his work, against all odds, an auteur cinema.
An exclusive interview with Claude Zidi also feeds these pages to help us unravel his mystery...
Thibault Decoster is chief editor on TV programs. Fed up with the popular cinema of the 70s and 80s, he devoted his childhood and adolescence to hundreds of VHS recordings devoted to his favorite genre: comedy. After high school, he trained in editing and scripting at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français. Fascinated by the work of Claude Zidi, he decided to dedicate his first book to it.