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The filmmaker, writer, professor and film critic Jean-Claude Bernardet died this Saturday (12), in
São Paulo
, at 88 years old. Born in Belgium and of French family, he spent his childhood in Paris and came to Brazil at the age of 13, where he became a Brazilian citizen.
Bernardet had prostate cancer and, for some time, decided not to undergo treatment anymore. In the 2021 book “O corpo crítico,” he discusses his decision to stop chemotherapy and talks about his positive HIV diagnosis, which became public in the 1990s.
Jean-Claude Bernardet, who died this Saturday, leaves an unpublished book
A family friend confirmed the filmmaker’s death to TV Globo. He was hospitalized at Samaritano Hospital in the capital, and according to documents obtained, the cause of death was a Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA).
The wake will take place this Sunday (13), at the Cinemateca Brasileira, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., an institution in which the filmmaker was one of the fundamental partners during his life.
“At the institution, he held various positions, always focusing on its development and strengthening. He had an exceptional ability for comprehensive analysis, believing in the dialogue between film criticism and film production,” says a passage from the statement issued by the Cinemateca.
Emeritus professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), Bernardet is recognized as one of the fundamental figures in Brazilian cultural criticism. He lived for years at the top of the Copan Building, in the center.
As a professor, Bernardet directly influenced the production and study of cinema in Brazil, contributing to cinema being understood as an artistic, political, and social practice. Moreover, he promoted art into the academic, political, and cultural fields.
On social media, Brazilian writers, artists, and intellectuals mourned the death of the filmmaker. The anthropologist, historian, professor at USP Lilia Schwarcz, member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, wrote that “in an era when everything has become superficial and without space, Jean-Claude chose another path.”
Jean-Claude Bernardet died, this icon of film criticism, at a time when this genre (criticism) existed and was taken seriously.
Social function of cinema
The filmmaker’s work also discussed the aesthetics and social function of cinema, especially in relation to national-popular production and the tensions between art and the market.
For him, cinema does not only function as an aesthetic art, but also as a political and social instrument. In other words, cinema should directly dialogue with Brazilian reality, reflecting and questioning the social, political, and economic structures of the country—especially the contradictions of the middle class and the absence of a genuine popular cinema.
Bernardet criticized the recurring use of poverty as an aesthetic theme in documentaries. In several interviews, such as with the Fapesp magazine (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo), the filmmaker argued that this approach, when aestheticized, depoliticizes the social issue and creates a consensus discourse that does not bring about real changes.
In the work of Bernardet, films that he co-wrote stand out, such as:
The Case of the Naves Brothers (1967)
Brasilia: Contradictions of a New City (1968)
A Sky of Stars (1995)
He also co-directed titles such as:
Fantastic Paulicéia (1970)
Eternal Hope (1971)
In addition, he worked in Filmefobia (2009), Periscópio (2013), Fome (2015), among others. His career as a researcher includes two poetic essays directed by him: São Paulo, Sinfonia e Cacofonia (1994) and Sobre Anos 60 (1999).
In December 2023, the Cinemateca Brasileira, which houses the largest film collection in South America, screened a selection of six of his films, curated by the filmmaker himself.
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