Frédéric Mitterrand died this Thursday March 21, 2024 from cancer. The former Minister of Culture had participated in the promotion of cinema in theaters and on television, himself signing several feature films and documentary series.
An essential figure in French culture, inseparable from his famous “Good evening”, Frédéric Mitterrand died on March 21, 2024 at the age of 76 after several months of fighting against an aggressive cancer, according to a press release sent to the media by his family.
A huge movie buff
Director of the Villa Médicis from 2008 to 2009, Minister of Culture from 2009 to 2012 under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, installed at the Academy of Fine Arts from 2020, the nephew of François Mitterrand (President of the Republic of 1981 to 1995) was also a media man (television, radio, publishing), but above all a huge film buff.
Actor, Frédéric Mitterrand distinguished himself as a teenager opposite Bourvil and Michèle Morgan in Fortunat (1960), before appearing in a few feature films between 1974 and 1981, including Merry-Go-Round by Jacques Rivette and Say it with flowers by Pierre Grimblat. Without forgetting, twenty years later, an amusing voice-over for Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain.
He worked at the same time in exhibition, becoming at this time a major face of Parisian cinemas where he helped to introduce numerous filmmakers under the banner of the Art et Essai L’Olympic cinemas. This experience will subsequently lead him to promote the 7th Art on television, in numerous formats and shows broadcast on TF1 and Antenne 2 in the 80s and 90s.
A recognized director… and a fan of Brad Pitt
Behind the camera, Frédéric Mitterrand began directing with Love Letters to Somalia in 1982. Director, screenwriter and producer, he multiplies the films and documentary series (on Valéry Giscard d’Estaing to Lana Turner via Christian Dior or Donald Trump). He also directed an adaptation of Puccini’s opera, Madame Butterfly (1995).
He chaired the Deauville American Cinema Festival in 2016, and published the novel in 2023 Brada passion book dedicated to Brad Pitt, whom he spoke of in these words: “I don’t know him, he doesn’t know me, but perhaps he will stop at this bottle in the sea when he discovers that he has a friend somewhere in France who loves him, admires him and understands it.”
A tarnished image
Let us recall that beyond his numerous artistic achievements and cultural distinctions, the image of Frédéric Mitterrand had been tarnished by the publication in 2005 of his story The Bad Life, in which he notably mentioned sex tourism in Thailand. His writings would be attacked four years later by numerous political figures, leading Frédéric Mitterrand to explain himself to the 8 p.m. news and to deny any apology for sex tourism and pedophilia.
Frédéric Mitterrand talks about “Fever in the Blood”, his favorite American film