GIROUD, FRANÇOISE

(1916-2003)

Director and screenwriter. Born Françoise Gourdji in Switzerland, Françoise Giroud got her start in cinema at the age of only fifteen. She worked as the script girl onMarc Allégret'sFanny(1932) and went on to work as assistant director, often under the name "Gourdji" on a number of films, includingJacques de Baroncelli'sRoi de Camargue(1934), Edmont T. Gréville'sRemous(1934), René Sti'sLe Bébé de l'escadron(1935),Yves Mirandeand Léonid Moguy'sBaccara(1935), Pierre Billon'sCourrier Sud(1936), Allegret'sAventure à Paris(1936) andLes Amants terribles(1936), Alexander Esway'sHercule(1937) andBarnabé(1938), and Pierre Colombier'sRois du Sport(1938).

Giroud also worked as a screenwriter, writing or cowriting the screenplays for André Berthomieu'sPromesse à l'inconnue(1942), Baroncelli'sMarie la misère(1945),Marcel L'Herbier'sAu petit bonheur(1946),Jacques Becker'sAntoine et Antoinette(1947), Jean Stelli'sDernier Amour(1949), Allégret'sJulietta(1953), and Francis Girod'sLe Bon plaisir(1984), which was adapted from her own novel.

Ultimately, Giroud left cinema for a career in journalism.She wrote forL 'ExpressandElle, and while atL 'Express, she coined the termNouvelle Vagueor New Wave to describe the innovations in cinema brought about by directors such asFrançois Truffaut,Jean-Luc Godard,Alain Resnais,Claude Chabrol,Agnès Varda,Louis Malle, and others associated with theCahiers du cinéma. Giroud would also go on to hold several cabinet-level positions in the French government.