Born in Montrouge in 1924, Claude Sautet began working in cinema under the impetus of Lino Ventura, with whom he shot "Classe tous risques". After two failures, he found himself tinkering with the wobbly scripts before returning to directing and gathering around him talented actors, from Romy Schneider to Michel Piccoli. Subtle painter of the years 1970-1980, Claude Sautet, back from Stalinism but always on the left, has a lucid look on society. But from "Things of Life" to "Nelly and Mr. Arnaud", his films are above all interested in human passions and tumultuous relationships between men and women.