Robert Lapoujade

Robert Lapoujade had made an impression with his art exhibitions for two decades, between 1939 and 1959, before he decided to move into filmmaking.He had a modest upbringing in a family of bakers and pastry makers, was mostly self taught, and showed his ability at all sorts of odd jobs including the food business.During World War II he helped Jewish children find escape at a refuge in the Alps and avoided his compulsory national service by hiding in the woods.He left the provinces afterwards for Paris, where he became known for his portraits of celebrities and for showing that social issues could be addressed through abstraction rather than the then trendy socialist realism favored on the Left.When he did get into filmmaking, his work The Vertical Smile caused a scandal at Cannes for its use of sexual violence,including castration, and cuts had to be made for the censorship before it could get a theatrical release.