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Janine Bazin (1923-2003)
By Ronald Bergan

According to Jean-Luc Godard, Janine Bazin, who has died aged 80, was ‘a star who lit up the history of cinema.’ For some years, she lived in the reflected glory of her husband, the extremely influential film critic and theorist, André Bazin. After his premature death in 1958, aged 40, tragically missing the French New Wave which he had helped instigate, Janine carried on the Bazin flame by co-producing the unequaled television series Cinéastes de Notre Temps.

Both Janine and André Bazin also played a major role in the life of François Truffaut. Truffaut, who, as a teenager, was abandoned by his mother, coincidentally called Janine, and his step-father, looked upon the Bazins as his adoptive or spiritual parents, and acknowledged that they saved him from an unproductive and self-destructive life.

In 1950, aged 18, while Truffaut was doing his military service, he deserted twice. In the guardhouse in Germany, Truffaut wrote to a friend. ‘The Bazins are darlings. Last night, 24 December, I received a telegram from them: “Keep your spirits up – we’re working on your behalf –Merry Christmas – affectionately – Janine – André.’

In fact, due to their intercession, Truffaut was released, and went to live with them for two years, during which time he began writing for Cahiers du Cinéma, the renowned magazine co-founded by André Bazin. Truffaut also credited Janine with later encouraging him to step in front of the camera, which he did very affectively in Wild Child, Day for Night, The Green Room and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Born Janine Kirsch in Paris, she met André Bazin while she was working for Labour and Culture, a militant organisation, associated with the Communist Party, which came out of the Resistance. After they married in 1949, and had their son, Florent, André would sometimes write under the nom de plume of Florent Kirsch. Warm and generous, they both loved the country and animals. But André was weakened by TB and had spells in sanatoria, while Janine had a limp from adolescence; he had a stammer, and she was loquacious.

In 1964, still heady from the first years of the New Wave movement, in which Truffaut was a leading figure, Janine, with André S. Labarthe, produced Cinéastes de Notre Temps, mostly hour-long programmes which focused on the most significant directors of the day. Wonderfully eclectic, the programmes assumed the audience had a reasonable amount of knowledge of the subjects. The aim was to reveal, through the appropriate cinematic approach, the special climate created by each filmmaker.

Sometimes, they were made in the style of the interviewees, for example the Sam Fuller programme consisted of rapid fire shots, while the Robert Bresson was austere with François Weyergans’ questions being far longer than the answers given by the master. Often, well-known directors paid homage to their idols. Among the most famous were Jean Vigo by Jacques Rozier, Carl Dreyer by Eric Rohmer; a memorable meeting between Fritz Lang and Jean-Luc Godard, directed by Labarthe, and Jacques Rivette on Jean Renoir, the patron saint of the New Wave. These programmes are still treasured by cinéastes and cinéphiles all over the world.

When the programme was axed by ORTF in 1974, Truffaut battled to help Janine in any way he could as she found herself, as he put it, ‘without any work or money.’ He also activated the film career of the Bazins’ son, Florent, as a leading cinematographer.

In 1980, a new series called Cinéma De Notre Temps began with Janine Bazin and André Labarthe again as producers. Among the more recent contributions have been One Day In The Life Of Andrei Arsenevich, on Andrei Tarkovsky by Chris Marker; a self-portrait by Chantal Akerman, and others on Rohmer, John Cassavetes and Hou Hsiao-hsien.

In the meantime, Janine created the International Film Festival in Belfort, which concentrates on first features, retrospectives and themes. The name of Bazin still resounds in the world of cinema with Florent Bazin, who survives her.

Ronald Bergan

Janine Bazin, film and television producer; born January 29, 1923; died May 31, 2003.

This obituary appears by kind permission of The Guardian.