Niels Arestrup

Acting

Niels Arestrup

Born February 8, 1949 · Montreuil, Seine [now Seine-Saint-Denis], France

Died December 1, 2024 · aged 75

Niels Arestrup was a French actor, film director and screenwriter. His father was Danish and his mother was French. He has won two César Awards for Best Supporting Actor for De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté and Un prophète, both films where he was directed by Jacques Audiard.

Known For

War HorseWar Horse · 2011
War Horse
7.32011
MovieWarHistory
On the brink of the First World War, Albert's beloved horse Joey is sold to the Cavalry by his father. Against the backdrop of the Great War, Joey begins an odyssey full of danger, joy, and sorrow, and he transforms everyone he meets along the way. Meanwhile, Albert, unable to forget his equine friend, searches the battlefields of France to find Joey and bring him home.
At Eternity's GateAt Eternity's Gate · 2018
At Eternity's Gate
7.02018
MovieDramaHistory
Famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him.
See You Up ThereSee You Up There · 2017
See You Up There
7.82017
MovieDramaCrime
In November 1918, a few days before the Armistice, when Lieutenant Pradelle orders a senseless attack, he causes a useless disaster; but his outrageous act also binds the lives of two soldiers who have nothing more in common than the battlefield: Édouard saves Albert, although at a high cost. They become companions in misfortune who will attempt to survive in a changing world. Pradelle, in his own way, does the same.
A ProphetA Prophet · 2009
A Prophet
7.62009
MovieCrimeDrama
Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.
The Diving Bell and the ButterflyThe Diving Bell and the Butterfly · 2007
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
7.62007
MovieDramaHistory
Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French fashion bible Elle magazine, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking an eye. Bauby painstakingly dictates his memoir via the only means of expression left to him.
By the SeaBy the Sea · 2015
By the Sea
5.52015
MovieDramaRomance
Set in France during the mid-1970s, Vanessa, a former dancer, and her husband Roland, an American writer, travel the country together. They seem to be growing apart, but when they linger in one quiet, seaside town they begin to draw close to some of its more vibrant inhabitants, such as a local bar/café-keeper and a hotel owner.
Sarah's KeySarah's Key · 2010
Sarah's Key
7.32010
MovieDramaWar
On the night of 16 July 1942, ten year old Sarah and her parents are being arrested and transported to the Velodrome d'Hiver in Paris where thousands of other jews are being sent to get deported. Sarah however managed to lock her little brother in a closet just before the police entered their apartment. Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond, an American journalist in Paris, gets the assignment to write an article about this raid, a black page in the history of France. She starts digging archives and through Sarah's file discovers a well kept secret about her own in-laws.
So Long AfricaSo Long Africa · 2015
So Long Africa
5.52015
MovieDrama
Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, April 2011. Jacques and Safi arrive from Abidjan, from where they've been repatriated in an emergency. He's as tough as nails, after too much time in the African sun and enjoying an expatriate lifestyle while running a hotel. Safi, his fourteen-year-old daughter, is used to living with her mother and doesn't know what to think about her loud-mouthed and useless father who has suddenly taken her away with him. Moved to a hostel in Nice, they learn to get to know each other, to be able to look each in the eye, perhaps to love each other. But there's also Gloria, Safi's mother, left behind in the upheaval of Abidjan, and impossible to contact...

Filmography

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Small WorldSmall World · 2010
Small World
6.32010
MovieDrama
Conrad Lang, a handyman in a rich family - he has been raised like a brother with Thomas, who has the same age -, accidentally puts fire to the big holiday house he keeps. He returns to the town he grew up in, to the family home, where Philippe, Thomas's son, and Simone are getting married. Conrad's frequent memory loss and behavioural problems rapidly reveal a neurological disease (Alzheimer's is suggested by doctor Cohen when he examens Elvira) which leads Elvira, Thomas's stepmother, to install Conrad in a guesthouse on the property, with the help of a nurse. When Conrad looses more and more his landmarks in present and past, memories of his youth come back to surface. They intrigue Simone, since these memories do not entirely fit together with the official family history...

Thomas Senn