A special program in collaboration with Alliance Francaise
Philippe le Guay is a French director and screenwriter from Paris. After studying literature, he was accepted into the IDHEC (Institut des hautes études cinematographiques) in 1980. His eclectic body of work includes, among the others, a period film, Les Deux Fragonard (1989); a romantic comedy, L’Année Juliette (1995); a noir film depicting the lives of two glass factory workers, Trois huit (2001); and an ensemble comedy exploring the dangerous relationship between various characters and money, Le Coût de la vie (2003).
In 2011, he directed a social comedy depicting the lives of Spanish house cleaners in Paris in the 1960s, Les Femmes du 6ème étage. The protagonist of the story, Marìa Gonzalez, a Spanish house cleaner hired by a Parisian couple, unwittingly opens the eyes of the couple’s husband, the currency trader Jean-Louis Joubert, to a world that, despite the harsh conditions of poverty, maintains its atmosphere of joy and good humor. This encounter will deeply change the life of the protagonist, brilliantly portrayed by Fabrice Luchini, with whom the director boasts a significant artistic collaboration – Luchini appears in four of Le Guay’s most important films. The film won the 2012 César Award for Best Supporting Actress, awarded to Spanish actress Carmen Maura.
In 2013, his film Alceste à bicyclette was released, a delightful French comedy that celebrates the world of theater, particularly Molière’s play Le Misanthrope ou l’Atrabilaire amoureux, first staged in 1666. Gauthier Valence (Lambert Wilson), a famous actor loved by the public, especially for his role in a French medical drama, tired of his popular career, decides to return to the theater and stage Molière. To achieve his goal, he seeks help from Serge Tanneur (Fabrice Luchini), a talented theater actor who had retired some years before. Tanneur’s initial refusal turns into a proposal to interpret together the iconic first scene of the first act: it’s the spark that ignites the harmonious performance of the two protagonists, who challenge each other in a unique exchange to the rhythm of French meter. Theater and life are intertwined in this film until they blend into a refined game of mirrors.
Remarkable works are also Florida (2015), Normandie nue (2018), and the recent L’Homme de la cave (2021), a dramatic thriller whose initial narrative device sees a Parisian couple selling a cellar in the building where they live.
Selected filmography
Les Deux Fragonard (1989)
L’Année Juliette (1995)
Trois huit – Nightshift (2001)
Le Coût de la vie (The Cost of Living, 2003)
Du jour au lendemain (2006)
Les Femmes du 6ème étage (The Women of the 6th Floor, 2011)
Alceste à bicyclette (Bicycling with Molière, 2013)
Florida (Floride, 2015)
Normandie nue (Naked Normandie, 2018)
L’Homme de la cave (2021)
