Biographical film has been appearing since the beginning of cinema, such as William Hayes’ The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895) or Georges Méliès’ Cleopatra (1899). The genre experienced its first golden age in the 1930s, especially with director William Dieterle of Warner ; “He created a system in which documentary precision plays a crucial role. The editorial line is purposeful, humane and educational: we tell the stories of Pasteur , Zola , Juarez . We pass on values to raise the morale of the nation. We appeal to the citizens. After the war, we turned to consumers with an emphasis on entertainment,” says Rémi Fontanel, a film professor at the University of Lyon II. Less represented on screens in the 1960s, biographical film experienced a revival in the 1980s and 1990s and then a new golden age in the late 2000s and early 2010s (e.g. La Môme in 2007, J. Edgar and La Dame de fer in 2011. ). The scholar notes that two trends are emerging: films about entrepreneurs (e.g., The Social Network in 2010) and films about music groups that emphasize personal success.
Finally, it should be noted that filmmakers are becoming less and less hesitant to shoot a character who is still alive, or even in his recent news ( Invictus on Nelson Mandela , La Conquête sur Nicolas Sarkozy , W .: The Incredible President on George W. Bush or once again Welcome to New York on Dominique Strauss-Kahn ).
A biographical film is a film about a particular person, focusing on the most important events in his life, as well as his personal and public achievements. There are a huge number of films about famous and famous people in the archives of the world film and video industry.
