Jean-Marie Straub, the iconic French director, dies aged 89
Jean-Marie Straub, one-half of the iconic French filmmaking duo Straub–Huillet, has passed away at the age of 89.
Known for his incendiary political filmmaking and his creative output with his partner Danièle Huillet, Straub’s cinema is an indispensable part of French history. During the 1950s, Straub met Huillet who was involved in the active cinephile community in Paris.
While Cahiers du Cinéma became famous for the radical criticism of young filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, Straub was considered too radical. In fact, Truffaut personally refused to publish some of Straub’s writings because they were “inflammatory”.
Over the course of their intertwined careers, Straub and Huillet made multiple masterpieces, such as Sicilia! and Class Relations. The latter might just be the greatest cinematic adaptation of Franz Kafka, translating the absurdity and the surreal atmosphere of his novel Amerika.
As reported by Le Monde, Straub died in Switzerland on Sunday, November 20th, at the age of 89. Although Huillet passed away in 2006, Straub continued to make films which were considered to be less controversial in nature.
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