Frédéric Mitterrand was not just a politician. He also had a career in cinema. Actor but also director, he was passionate.
Frédéric Mitterrand died on March 21, 2024 at the age of 76, due to illness. Minister of Culture from 2009 to 2012, he had many other passions, notably cinema. A true film buff, he was one of the major faces of Parisian cinemas. In 1971, he took over the management of the Olympic cinema before creating a whole network of around ten Arthouse cinemas to showcase independent creations. He also promoted cinema in several dedicated television shows.
Frédéric Mitterrand also had his own career in cinema: he was a director for films and documentaries such as Love letters to Somalia, Madam Butterfly, Christian Dior, France or Trump, the godfather of Manhattan but was also an actor.
At the age of 12, he began acting and appeared for the first time on screen in Alex Joffé’s film, Fortunat. He shared the stage with big names: Bourvil and Michèle Morgan. Later, he continued his career in several feature films between 1974 and 1981. He notably played in Merry-Go-Round by Jacques Rivette, Say it with flowers by Pierre Grimblat or even Short Memory by Eduardo de Gregorio. He also performed as a voice-over in LThe Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain And Snipe and the Viking Treasure by Philippe Vidal.
The little secrets of his cinema career
In his book My regrets are remorse, Frédéric Mitterrand admitted to having played in an adult film. “I regret this trashy pornographic film, à la Warhol, that I shot in one night with François Wimille and which caused so much harm to his wife, Catherine Breillat, who was pregnant at the time.”
His other little secret is that he was a huge fan of Brad Pitt. In 2023, he published a book dedicated to his idol. In an extract, Frédéric Mitterrand reveals all his admiration for the actor: “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 him.”