Boris Vian

Boris Vian

Born: March 10, 1920
Died: June 29, 1959
in Ville-d'Avray, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Boris Vian (10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their release. Vian's other fiction, published under his real name, featured a highly individual writing style with numerous made-up words, subtle wordplay and surrealistic plots. L'Écume des jours (Froth on the Daydream) is the best known of these works, and one of the few translated into English.

Vian was also an important influence on the French jazz scene. He served as liaison for Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis in Paris, wrote for several French jazz-reviews (Le Jazz Hot, Paris Jazz) and published numerous articles dealing with jazz both in the United States and in France. His own music and songs enjoyed popularity during his lifetime, particularly the anti-war song "Le Déserteur" (The Deserter). 

Movies for Boris Vian...

Rage, Sex, and Jazz: I Spit on Your Graves by Vernon Sullivan
Title: Rage, Sex, and Jazz: I Spit on Your Graves by Vernon Sullivan
Character: Self - Writer (archive footage)
Released: November 9, 2022
Type: Movie
In 1946, the controversial French writer Boris Vian writes his novel I Spit on Your Graves under the pseudonym of Vernon Sullivan, supposedly a mysterious African-American writer; a work against racism and Anglo-Saxon puritanism whose publication causes a great scandal.
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Boris Vian, un cœur qui battait trop fort
Title: Boris Vian, un cœur qui battait trop fort
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 13, 2020
Type: Movie
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Vadim Mister Cool
Title: Vadim Mister Cool
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: December 28, 2016
Type: Movie
As a poster boy for hedonism, his whole life was one big party. A journalist, filmmaker, director, producer, actor, novelist, ladies' man and prolific father... Roger Vladimir Plémiannikov, a.k.a. Roger Vadim, tried everything until his death in 2000. Portrait of a man at the cutting edge of fashion and trends.
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Hôtel La Louisiane
Title: Hôtel La Louisiane
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 18, 2015
Type: Movie
Hôtel La Louisiane is, at its core, a film about freedom and dignity. Freedom for those who wish to live in a place where they are able to feel inspired. Dignity for the hotel owner to stand by his promise to his father and keep their mission alive: to provide an affordable sanctuary for artists and students in search of fulfilling employment, which they certainly won’t find at other hotels. Freedom, too, to be in an environment of tolerance and rid of prejudice. This film is not just a story about a mythical setting in Paris; it portrays the microcosm of a lifestyle in which collective values reign supreme. A film where what’s real and true is placed above national borders or cultural barriers.
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Le cinéma de Boris Vian
Title: Le cinéma de Boris Vian
Character: Self (archives)
Released: December 17, 2011
Type: Movie
On June 23, 1959, Boris Vian died of a heart attack while watching the film "I Spit Οn Your Graves", a frivolous adaptation of his novel of the same name, which he released under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan. Taking as a starting point this fateful date for Vian's relationship with cinema, the documentary looks back at his cinematic experiences, his appearances in several films, his friendship with director Pierre Cast and his many unrealized screenplays. From the post-war period to the dawn of the 1960s, from the cellars of Saint-Germain-des-Prés to his apartment in Place Blanche, it is about the portrait of a diverse author who loved cinema with passion.
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Boris Vian, la vie jazz
Title: Boris Vian, la vie jazz
Character: Himself
Released: June 18, 2009
Type: Movie
Boris Vian. A novelist? A songwriter? A playwright? A poet? A trumpet player? A music publishing company producer? A singer? A visual artist? An engineer? Well, this man was all of that, without being a Jack of all trades as he was often accused of being. For what united all those various activities was a way of being, what could be called his "jazz attitude". Vian's passion for this style of music indeed inspired his style in all the categories he covered. It even dictated his relation to life and death.
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Le bel âge
Title: Le bel âge
Character: Boris
Released: February 10, 1960
Type: Movie
Steph, Jean-Claude and Jacques work in a Parisian art shop, but they mainly work in the field of eroticism, which they conceive as a wide-ranging field of exercises and experiments.
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Dangerous Liaisons
Title: Dangerous Liaisons
Character: Prévan
Released: September 9, 1959
Type: Movie
Juliette Merteuil and Valmont is a sophisticated couple, always looking for fun and excitement. Both have sexual affairs with others and share their experiences with one another. But there is one rule: never fall in love. But this time Valmont falls madly in love with a girl he meets at a ski resort, Marianne.
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La Joconde, histoire d'une obsession
Title: La Joconde, histoire d'une obsession
Character: Professeur spécialisé sur le sourire de Mona Lisa (non crédité)
Released: April 30, 1958
Type: Movie
This is the story of an obsession. Mona Lisa keeps smiling quizzically while our poor hero is pursued by her representation in all its forms, in all places. She smiles at him in a museum, at a bookseller along the banks of the Seine, in the streets, at a café. Enough to drive him up the wall!
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A Girl in a Pocket
Title: A Girl in a Pocket
Character: Le gérant des bains
Released: November 6, 1957
Type: Movie
A professor experimenting in suspended animation accidentally shrinks his dog and later, his female lab assistant, when she drinks the liquid by accident and shrinks to 3 inches tall. The professor keeps her in his pocket until he can find an antidote. Sometimes she's naked, too.
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Title: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Character: The Cardinal
Released: December 19, 1956
Type: Movie
Paris, 1482. Today is the festival of the fools, taking place like each year in the square outside Cathedral Notre Dame. Among jugglers and other entertainers, Esmeralda, a sensuous gypsy, performs a bewitching dance in front of delighted spectators. From up in a tower of the cathedral, Frollo, an alchemist, gazes at her lustfully. Later in the night, Frollo orders Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer and his faithful servant, to kidnap Esmeralda. But when the ugly freak comes close to her is touched by the young woman's beauty...
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Title: En direct de...
Character: self
Released: February 16, 1956
Type: TV
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Saint-Tropez, devoirs de vacances
Title: Saint-Tropez, devoirs de vacances
Character: Self
Released: April 15, 1954
Type: Movie
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La chasse à l'homme
Title: La chasse à l'homme
Released: October 14, 1952
Type: Movie
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An amateur Film
Title: An amateur Film
Character: The Vampire Priest
Released: January 1, 1947
Type: Movie
French horror comedy short from 1947.