IN THE TRACKS OF : GEORGES DELERUE (DVD: NTSC)

Georges Delerue was one of the most famous and most prolific film composers that French and American cinema have ever known. He scored the music of more than 200 feature films, and perhaps as many for television.

Despite his splendid and prolific career, George Delerue always remained the simple and discreet man that he was at the beginning of his life.

To make this documentary, we wished to pay homage to this great composer by retracing his years of creativity but we had very little visual or biographical documents at our disposal. The first part of the script was based on the major meetings George Delerue had with some of Cinema’s great directors: Francois Truffaut, Bertrand, Bilier, Boris Vian, Philippe de Broca as well as John Huston, Mike Nichols, Oliver Stone, Fred Zinnemann and many more…
However, it seemed rather doubtful to be making such a documentary without more
documentation. This led us to express our intentions for the film to Colette Delerue, who agreed to meet us a few months later, in the hills of Los Angeles.

We had a moving emotional exchange in her house where each object seemed to reflect the presence of the composer. The room where Georges Delerue used to compose had stayed the same, unchanged, with a pieyelet piano, a photograph of Francois Truffaut placed on top of it, the desk where he would write…

This meeting was deeply inspiring and critical for the actual possibility of making this biographical documentary.

It is through the eyes of Colette that this documentary was able to come to life, getting as close as possible to the work of Georges Delerue.

And it is thanks to Collet’s meticulous work with archives and her memory, which she transmitted to us, that we were able to access the passion of Georges Delerue’s music. Equally, many interviews with witnesses, allowed us to delve into his past and to deepen certain periods of his work. Amongst which are some memorable contributors such as : Oliver Stone, Bertrand Blier, Agnes Varda, Bruce Beresford, Alexandre Desplat, Fanny Ardant and the brillant much missed Alain Corneau.

Colette Delerue opened the doors of her memory, and little by little led us into Georges Delerue’s universe. Without her constant and kind presence, this documentary would certainly not have been able to transcribe faithfully the life of this great composer.


“Bandes Originales - Georges Delerue” - 72' - Fanny Ardant
This film aims to revive the memory of this great composer from the French School, who was driven by the music. He dedicated the major part of his art and of his work to the film score. He was the author of more than 200 film scores. Very few composers expressed themselves like him through very different genders. Georges Delerue composed for the cinema new wave, (Contempt by Jean-Luc Godard), (Jules and Jim, Day for Night by Francois Truffaut) but also for the popular cinema of Philippe de Broca (That Man from Rio) and Gerard Oury (The Sucker). He also worked on compositions for television and radio, then for Hollywood with for instance Oliver Stone (Platoon).

INTERVIEWS: Oliver Stone, Bertrand Blier, Agnes Varda, Stephane Lerouge, Alexandre Desplat, Alain Corneau, Frederic Talgorn, Bruce Beresford and Budd Carr.


CONTENT DVD / BO - Georges DELERUE

Format : NTSC
Language : Francais / Anglais

? Documentary : 72 min

? Unreleased concert : First Delerue’s string quartet : 26 min
Georges Delerue wrote his first string quartet when he was 23. Concert performed by Traffic Quintet, directed by Alexandre Desplatand recorded at Studio Davout.

? Booklet (16 pages, texts + photos - French / English)

? Bonus : 68 min

- Conversations with participants presents or not on the documentary (64 mn) :
Alain Cornau - Director / France
Betrand Blier - Director / France
Bruce Beresford - Director / Australia
Diane Kurys - Director / France
Frederic Talgorn - Compositor / France
Jean-Claude Petit - Compositor/ France
Michel Wym - Director/ France
Nicole Bertold - Foundation Boris Vian / France
Oliver Stone - Director / USA
Robert Townson - Manager Varese Sarabande / USA - from the label.