A great theater actor,he had won three Césars My heart stopped beating,A prophet et Quai d’Orsay.
It was his wife, the writer Isabelle Le Nouvel, who announced the death of Niels Arestrup on Sunday morning, in Ville-d’Avray (92). The prodigious interpreter ofA prophet by Jacques Audiard was 75 years old. “I am extremely sad to announce the death of my husband, the immense actor Niels Arestrup, after a valiant fight against illness. He died surrounded by the love of his family. »
“An irrecoverable loss like Bernard Blier”, laments Francis Huster. “I am very sad for his wife and children” confides François Berléand, who played his half-brother in an autobiographical comedy, 88 times infinityby Isabelle Nouvel. “Immense and brilliant actor”, Patrick Chesnais, his partner, greets him dinnerthe play by Jean-Claude Brisville. André Dussolier with whom he appeared Diplomacy he is “too upset and dejected” to speak out.
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The Franco-danish actor, born in Montreuil on 8 February 1949, had often distinguished himself in villainous roles during a career of more than fifty-five years. Like Alain Delon, he was an imposing sacred monster. However,he was naturally reserved and,against all expectations,had retained a form of shyness. His penetrating blue gaze kept his interlocutor at a distance. “He wasn’t a poser,he imposed it” underlines Francis Huster. “He was a shy boy, inhabited by the anxiety of not doing well, confirms Patrick Chesnais. Sharing the stage with him was a joy and a privilege.”
“One of the most fantastic jobs”
The only son of a taciturn worker from Bagnolet, Niels Arestrup answered the journalists’ questions after careful consideration. He had never felt the desire to be in the spotlight and for a long time he gave few interviews. He remembered the strength of character of his father, a workshop manager in a Testut scale assembly factory. And the courage of his Breton mother who worked on the assembly line of a radio company. His parents wanted him to follow in their footsteps.They worry about his future, but there was what Niels Arestrup called a “accident of life” Welcome.
You’re an actor like Michel simon, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Fresnay, you have nothing to do with it, its like that. If some luck intervenes one day, you will play great lyrics
Tania Balachova, acting teacher
The man became an actor by chance.He was 19 when he was “encounter” from this profession. He discovers Tania Balachova on a TV show and decides to visit her. “When you are on stage and listening to your partner, you are the first spectator, he told us, remembers François berléand. The legendary acting teacher gives Niels Arestrup a test, examines it and then observes in a cultured tone: “I have nothing special to tell you. You’re an actor like Michel Simon, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Fresnay, you have nothing to do with it, it’s like that. If some luck intervenes one day, you will play great lyrics. When he was reminded of this, the interested party was almost embarrassed by the comparison.
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“Tania Balachova put her finger in the paint, I never got out, thank God! It’s one of the coolest jobs there is, he commented for Le Figaro in 2020. we spend our lives playing, meeting people, being elsewhere, without ever falling into routine.” According to Francis Huster, it was “elsewhere”, not on stage. It seemed like he was playing for himself.
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Among his other “masters”, Peter Brook and Michel Bouquet were fundamental. They nurtured him, said Niels Arestrup, who for a time directed the Théâtre de la Renaissance and taught at a school he founded in Montmartre. Michel Bouquet gave him some advice: “Read, read, learn, learn, forget, forget…”
“As in life, a character is the same. When you do your job well, it is always with you. You can’t let it go.” explained Niels Arestrup, who made his theater debut at the age of 23, in Jean Gilibert’s company in 1972. He plays in Crime and punishment by Dostoevsky, directed by Alain Barsacq who suggested he change his name. To avoid hurting his parents, the young man refuses.
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Another director who counts in Arestrup’s lineup is Andréas Voutsinas, a Greek director who worked at the Actors Studio before settling in Paris in the late 1960s
Niels Arestrup, who at the age of 63 became the happy father of twins, often was “someone else”. In 1979, he plays the role of a violent pimp with “his” prostitutes, Miou-Miou and Maria Schneider, in The Escape by Daniel Duval. “Slap him!” the director repeats to the actor. «Oui», Miou-Miou “encourages” him and ends up hurting him physically, like Maria Schneider did. Niels Arestrup also had a reputation for mistreating actresses on stage.
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In 1983, his altercation with Isabelle Adjani Mademoiselle Julie by August Strindberg at the Édouard VII Theatre, had caused a lot of ink to flow. Jean-Paul Roussillon had left the set, then an interpreter The murderous summer in turn. They never answered each other again. Which didn’t stop Fanny Ardant from playing Music by Marguerite Duras conducted by Bernard Murat with arestrup at the Théâtre de la Gaîté Montparnasse in 1995.
He remained the young mad dog, that was his strength. He played vile, crazy characters, but something made people turn to him anyway
Caterina Arditi, actress
But a year later, the actor once again maintained a contentious relationship with Myriam Boyer while they starred Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?
a play by Edward Albee about a couple who fall apart at the Gaîté montparnasse. Catherine Arditi had replaced Clovis Cornillac’s mother who had closed the door. “I thought of him as a rocker ready to fuck it up every time, explains Francis huster, he had repressed the anger within himself. He didn’t want to grow old,he remained the crazy young dog,this made him strong. He played vile, crazy characters, but something pushed us to turn to him anyway.”
“The Rodin of the theatre”
“It’s in the past, it’s far away, I was given a label” Niels Arestrup told us about it, wiping away the bad memories with a single gesture. In 1996 he shot in parallel, under the direction of the Italian director Marco Ferreri, The future is femalearound a couple who adopts a child. “He said “Motor” while I was eating mandarins…There was a Ferreri style, a research, judged Niels Arestrup to be under the spell.
Claude Lelouch was the first to give him a chance in cinema. In 1976 a What if it had to be redone. Arestrup plays alongside Anouk Aimé, Catherine Deneuve, Charles Denner and Francis Huster. “For me Niels is the Rodin of the theatre, the latter turns on. He sculpted his roles,he was awarded for supporting roles,but there was no supporting role for him. He had a captivation with his characters that we would never have imagined. He loved to receive so much that he gave more than was necessary. He was like Spencer Tracy, he had a fragility. And a seduction that – contrary to popular belief – was absolutely not macho. He had anger in his soul. When he went up The misanthrope,at the Renaissance theater,with marianne Basler,he was aware of this.”
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retirement had no meaning for him. He told us he would be sorry not to work anymore. His career reached its peak with the “very demanding” Jacques Audiard who noticed him in the theater. The director first hired him in 2006 My heart stopped beating
The film won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 and nine César Awards in 2010, including best Supporting Actor for Niels Arestrup. The latter explained that Jacques Audiard was “definitely difficult, he always wants to go further”. He recalled his warning before a take: “We will not leave this plateau until there is blood on the walls, he will be able to go further and further, until he is exhausted »the actor specified AlloCiné in 2011.
“I never learn by heart, but by body”
Bertrand Tavernier entrusts him with the role of a ministerial chief of staff with irresistible phlegm dealing with an impulsive and unpredictable Thierry Lhermitte in Quai d’Orsayadapted from the comic of the same name by Christophe Blain and Abel Lanzac. Almost a counter-work which earned the actor his third César for best supporting role. The corridors of power interest him. The candidate (2007), the only feature film he wrote and directed, is the story of the manipulation between the two rounds of the presidential elections. Eminence grise or devious mentor, his on-screen political career continues in the series Black Baron.
whether political or gangster, Arestrup is equally involved.“I believe in what I play. I believe in it like a child, like when I played cowboys and Indians”, he says Figaro when he plays 88 times infinityIsabelle Le nouvel’s play inspired by her reunion with her half-brother at the age of 20. He was very proud to have filmed with Steven Spielberg who had entrusted him with the role of the grandfather in his fresco workhorse.
Niels is the actor with a capital A. He never did the same things again, he always tried to bring another tone or another gesture
Cyril Gély, author
Young directors often thought of him, as Gilles Legrand, for You will be my son (2011), in which he portrays a patriarch in his vineyards. There the actor meets Patrick Chesnais. The same year,his role as general Dietrich von choltitz in Diplomacy at the theater with André Dussolier in the role of Raoul Nordling leaves an indelible memory. “He was the first person to whom I read the opera on the advice of Myriam Feune de Colombi,director of the Théâtre Montparnasse,says author Cyril Gély. Niels is the actor with a capital A. He never did the same things again, he always tried to bring another tone or another gesture. He told me: ”I never learn by heart, but by body” ».
Volker Schlöndorff will bring it to the cinema in 2014. Niels Arestrup is already talking about it with Cyril Gély Redthe play by John Logan, to lend his stature to the painter Mark Rothko at the Théâtre Montparnasse, directed by Jérémie Lippmann with Alexis Moncorgé (2020). “He was the only one to get 700 people in one room! »
What are some of the most memorable roles played by Niels Arestrup in theater and film?
Class=”fig-paragraph”>“Niels Arestrup is not just an actor; he’s an artist who lives and breathes his roles,” said many who worked closely with him. His journey through the world of theater and film reflects his profound dedication too his craft, marked by an illustrious career that captivates audiences and fellow artists alike. Through his captivating performances, he has brought to life a myriad of complex characters, each meticulously sculpted as if he were carving them from stone.
Despite the controversies surrounding his working relationships, Niels Arestrup has continuously garnered respect for his raw talent and intense emotional range. His commitment to exploring the depths of human experience is a hallmark of his work, earning him a unique place in the annals of theatrical history.
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