French director Jean-Jacques Beineix is best-known for making two of the most provocative films of the 1980s; Diva (1982) and 37.2 le matin (Betty Blue, 1986). Dark, haunting, and filled with substantial helpings of violence and/or sex, both films were great successes in France, winning a number of awards and a degree of cinematic immortality for their director. The director's screen work during the 1990s was sporadic, and he concentrated much of his energy on such offscreen projects as his presidency of the ARP (an association for writers, directors, and producers) and his efforts to protect European film from North American cultural hegemony. He breathed his last on Januray 14, 2022.
