Synopsis
A biography of the popular French actor describes his rise from poverty to fame in the film world, how he overcame a childhood language defect, his discovery of acting, and his international success
Reviews
Born in 1948 in a French village scarred by Nazi occupation, film star Gerard Depardieu grew up with a stutter and severe hearing problems, exacerbated by parents who rarely talked in whole sentences. How this loner, school dropout and petty thief conquered his emotional traumas and went on to play eloquent soldier-poet Cyrano de Bergerac, a Resistance hero in The Last Metro and a rebel or sexual provacateur in dozens of other movies makes for an amazing life story. Chutkow, who writes on film for the New York Times and Vogue , peers behind the public mask of bravado to probe a serious, complex artist given to mood swings and workaholic excess. This engaging biography also investigates the scandal surrounding a 1991 profile in Time that quoted Depardieu as admitting that he had committed rape at age nine, a statement he subsequently denied making. Chutkow's analysis, based on Time 's own tape and interview transcript, supports Depardieu's denial and, in effect, charges the magazine with inaccurate journalism. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Tiptop film writing and a bathyspheric exploration of the complex emotional depths of a great actor. Chutkow writes on French film for The New York Times and Vogue. He spent three years interviewing and researching Gerard Depardieu (b. 1948) for this bio which, although it has the subject's input, has not been vetted by him. Though essentially about the raging genius and vast appetites of Depardieu, who by midcareer has made 80 films, this is also among the best books ever written about film acting. Few will be unmoved by Chutkow's emotional charting of young Gerard's speech problems as a seemingly retarded peasant child unable to talk without stuttering and given to long silences. Equally affecting are the accounts of his hard times at school, his youth spent racing about hellbent, his quitting school at 13 and leaving tiny Chateauroux for Paris at 16, where after two years he hulks into an acting class for which he is totally unfitted--aside from his hunger to learn. Soon a doctor finds that Gerard has a hearing impairment which affects both speech and understanding. This doctor and another, and Gerard's new wife, Elisabeth, who is both an actress and a psychologist seven years his senior, train him to read and speak. He becomes a force in his acting class and a torrential speaker, falls into films and finds himself launched on an atomic career, first playing thugs and lowlifes, then more sophisticated bourgeois, winning awards and at last filming Cyrano de Bergerac in Rostand's alexandrines, followed by his huge fit into the role of Columbus for Ridley Scott's 1492. He never researches but rather joins his skin to a character's emotional being. ``My life demands a power of perpetual adaptation,'' says Depardieu, who also rises above a deeply wounding canard by Time magazine which charged him with being a nine-year-old rapist. Much, much more--a descent into the maelstrom not to be missed. (Forty-eight b&w photographs--not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
In an intimate portrait of the renowned and ubiquitous (more than 70 films in 22 years) actor, Chutkow unveils the many guises of Depardieu the celebrity, revealing the complex family man behind the public persona. Depardieu's difficult childhood, the intense energy that drives him in life and in work, and his wife, who soothes his savage soul, are all here, along with high and low points from his career. And in an estimable act of reporting, Chutkow presents a clarification of the interview used as source material for a Time magazine profile on Depardieu. The resulting international furor, surrounding assertions that Depardieu discussed crimes of rape committed during his youth, threw the actor into a downward spiral and continues to affect him and his family today. Fans will relish Chutkow's expansive portrait that goes a long way in explaining the magnetic persona of this rough-hewn, ungainly, yet rivetingly alluring actor. Alice Joyce
A major star of French cinema since the early Seventies, Gerard Depardieu has become increasingly popular in America thanks to fascinating performances in such films as Jean de Florette (1985) and the Academy AwardR-winning Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978). His typical screen personality, that of a rather oafish brute with a sensitive, compassionate side, is refreshingly unlike the traditional suave and sophisticated French leading man. Depardieu's rags-to-riches story is engrossingly told: he endured poverty in his childhood, dropped out of school and left home by the time he was 13, and-somewhat like his character in Green Card (1991)-held an assortment of jobs, often living by his wits on the street. Enriching commentary focuses on the contrasting cultures of France and America and the socioeconomic influences on the film industries of both countries. Highly recommended for popular as well as specialized collections.
Richard W. Grefrath, Univ. of Nevada Lib., Reno
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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