Career Highlights: My Night at Maud's, Our Lady of the Assassins, Reversal of Fortune
First Major Screen Credit: La Boulangere de Monceau (1963)
Biography
Barbet Schroeder's Swiss geologist father was on assignment in Iran when he was born. After a globe-trotting childhood, Schroeder was educated at the Sorbonne; then, like half the under-30 population of France (or so it seemed), he became a movie critic. Brief jobs as a jazz concert producer and news photographer followed before Schroeder went to work as an assistant for one of his role models, French director Jean-Luc Godard. In 1964, the 22-year-old Schroeder set up his own film production company, Les Films du Losange. Among the many prominent pictures produced by Schroeder include director Eric Rohmer's "Moral Tales" La Collectioneuse (1966), My Night at Maud's (1969), and Claire's Knee (1970). Schroeder himself turned director with 1969's More, gaining critical attention with several unorthodox documentaries. With the American film Barfly (1987), Schroeder established himself as a prime purveyor of "slice of life" drama -- albeit entertaining enough to please the crowd. Oscar nominated for his take-no-sides direction of Reversal of Fortune (1990), the story of the controversial Claus von Bulow case, Schroeder then helmed the tense -- and successful -- "cat-and-mouse" thriller Single White Female (1992). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Barbet Schroeder (born August 26, 1941) is a Franco-Swiss movie director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working together with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette.
Schroeder was born in Tehran, Iran, the son of Ursula, a German-born physician, and Jean-William Schroeder, a Swiss geologist.[1][2]
Film career
Schroeder's production company "Les Films du Losange", founded by him at age 23, produced some of the best-known films of the French New Wave. His directorial debut, More (1969), about heroin addiction, became a hit in Europe. Pink Floyd wrote music for this movie and released the album, Soundtrack from the Film More. They also wrote the soundtrack for his 1972 film La Vallée, released as the album Obscured by Clouds.
Schroeder directed the episode of the American dramatic television series "Mad Men" that aired on November 1, 2009. The episode was entitled "The Grown Ups," and was notable for its depiction of the events of the Kennedy assassination.