Paris (AFP)

The film critic Jean Douchet, whose name is inseparable from the New Wave and Cahiers du cinéma, who has tirelessly passed on the passion for cinema in cinema clubs, died at the age of 90, announced Friday. the French Cinematheque.

"Companion of the New Wave, an immense film critic, director and actor, he was also our faithful friend and, with his film club, he was an indefatigable smuggler of films," the institution wrote on Twitter. A tribute will be given Tuesday from 19H15 at the Cinémathèque (free admission).

The announcement of this death, which took place on the night of Thursday to Friday, aroused many reactions, the filmmaker Xavier Beauvois who saw in him a sort of spiritual father, the Cahiers du Cinema, through the director François Ozon.

Jean Douchet was "since the end of the 50s" (...) a companion of Cahiers for more than sixty years. His death leaves many of us, current and former critics, orphans, "said the famous magazine.

In Lyon, the Lumière Institute tweeted "sadness this morning, joy for life and gratitude forever", with a photo of this figure of critic, also actor and director.

Former Cannes Film Festival President Gilles Jacob hailed the disappearance of "our master to all". "His thought reflected our common passion, he spoke, his comments dazzled us and we followed the road, without him it would not be the same."

Nicknamed the "Socrates of cinema", Jean Douchet was born in 1929 in Arras (Pas-de-Calais). He studied Philosophy at the Sorbonne and in 1950, he wrote in the Gazette du cinéma before, in 1957, to become a critic at the Cahiers du cinéma, a magazine that defended the Hollywood auteur cinema (including Hitchcock on which he write a reference book).

It is at this time that Godard, Chabrol, Truffaut and Rivette go on to the realization, launching the New wave which will leave an indelible imprint in the cinema.

If Douchet also films some short films, it's a man of words he will reveal, thanks to the thousands of films analyzed in film clubs.

"I quickly oriented my activity on orality (...) It is the transmission that counts and the repercussion it has in others," he said two years ago at La Croix.

In 1973 and 1977, he plays in two films by Jean Eustache. He taught film analysis for several years at IDHEC, which later became the Fémis. Among his students, some, like François Ozon or Xavier Beauvois, will give him small roles.

In 1982, he became director of the Cinémathèque française where he animated a cine-club decoding images. It will also extend this activity in the province and abroad. He is also the author of documentaries on cinema for television.

"+ Criticism is the art of loving +." This is how Jean Douchet described what he considered to be more than a job: he knew everything about cinema, and from him we will remember his tireless passion. and his pen so recognizable, "reacted for his part the Minister of Culture Franck Riester.

© 2019 AFP