Marion Sarraut

Born in 1938, the grand-daughter of former French Prime Minister Albert Sarraut, who was the Secretary of State in the government of Clémenceau as well as the President of the Council, Marion Sarraut developed a passion for movies at the age of eight. In 1957, she joined the “Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique” of Rue Blanche, and contributed to the Cahiers du cinéma where she met prominent figures of the French New Wave such as François Truffaut, Jean Luc Godard and Eric Rohmer with whom she took her first steps as an actress. She later focused on filmmaking, first as a script girl, then as a television assistant under the supervision of Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier. In 1970 she became a director, and during the ensuing ten years she went on to film some of the greatest French movie stars. In 1981, she began directing fiction movies. From 1983 to 1989, she directed great historical epics, such as Le gerfault (1987), and Alexandre Duma’s La comtesse de Charny (1989). She was named “Chevalier des Arts et des lettres” in 1987, and in 2003 she was made “Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Légion d'honneur.” Since 1989, she has directed several successful productions for television as well as filmed prominent stage productions such as Jésus était son nom by Robert Hossein, and Cyrano de Bergerac with Jean Paul Belmondo. Her main endeavor today is to convey through her images the ethical values she so deeply embraces, be it through a documentary film on the life and works of Ostad Elahi, which she directed during the 1995 exhibit at the Sorbonne that commemorated the centenary of his birth, or through a portrait of Bernadette Chirac whom she met in 1999.