Directing

Olivier Assayas

Born January 25, 1955 · Paris, France (age 71)

Olivier Assayas (French: [ɔlivje asajas]; born 25 January 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. Assayas is known for his eclectic filmography, consisting of slow-burning period pieces, psychological thrillers, neo-noirs, and comedies. He has directed French, Spanish, and English-language films with international casts. The son of filmmaker Jacques Rémy, Assayas began his c…

Known For

The Wizard of the Kremlin

The Wizard of the Kremlin · 2026

The Wizard of the Kremlin

In the chaos of post-Soviet Russia, rising KGB officer Vladimir Putin joins forces with master manipulator Vadim Baranov to reshape life behind the Iron Curtain, using violence and deception to change the world forever.

Clouds of Sils Maria

Clouds of Sils Maria · 2014

Clouds of Sils Maria

A veteran actress comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier.

Personal Shopper

Personal Shopper · 2016

Personal Shopper

MovieDramaMystery

Maureen, mid-20s, is a personal shopper for a media celebrity. The job pays for her stay in Paris, a city she refuses to leave until she makes contact with her twin brother who previously died there. Her life becomes more complicated when a mysterious person contacts her via text message.

Paris Je T'aime

Paris Je T'aime · 2006

Paris Je T'aime

MovieDramaRomance

Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

Based on a True Story

Based on a True Story · 2017

Based on a True Story

MovieThrillerMystery

Delphine is the author of an autobiographical novel that has become a bestseller. Exhausted by the promotional tour, just when she feels out of place, paralyzed by the idea of having to start writing again, she meets Elle, a young, attractive, intelligent, intuitive woman who seems to understand her better than anyone.

Wasp Network

Wasp Network · 2020

MovieDramaHistory

Havana, Cuba, 1990. René González, an airplane pilot, unexpectedly flees the country, leaving behind his wife Olga and his daughter Irma, and begins a new life in Miami, where he becomes a member of an anti-Castro organization.

Irma Vep

Irma Vep · 1996

MovieComedyDrama

A has-been French filmmaker wants a Hong Kong actress to be the heroine in a rendering of Les Vampires.

Passages

Passages · 2023

MovieRomanceDrama

Tomas and Martin are a gay couple living in Paris whose marriage is thrown into crisis when Tomas impulsively begins a passionate affair with young schoolteacher Agathe. But when Martin begins an affair of his own, Tomas must confront life decisions he may be unprepared—or unwilling—to deal with.

Filmography

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The Wizard of the Kremlin

The Wizard of the Kremlin · 2026

The Wizard of the Kremlin

In the chaos of post-Soviet Russia, rising KGB officer Vladimir Putin joins forces with master manipulator Vadim Baranov to reshape life behind the Iron Curtain, using violence and deception to change the world forever.

Writer

Clouds of Sils Maria

Clouds of Sils Maria · 2014

Clouds of Sils Maria

A veteran actress comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier.

Director

Personal Shopper

Personal Shopper · 2016

Personal Shopper

MovieDramaMystery

Maureen, mid-20s, is a personal shopper for a media celebrity. The job pays for her stay in Paris, a city she refuses to leave until she makes contact with her twin brother who previously died there. Her life becomes more complicated when a mysterious person contacts her via text message.

Director

Paris Je T'aime

Paris Je T'aime · 2006

Paris Je T'aime

MovieDramaRomance

Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.

Director

Based on a True Story

Based on a True Story · 2017

Based on a True Story

MovieThrillerMystery

Delphine is the author of an autobiographical novel that has become a bestseller. Exhausted by the promotional tour, just when she feels out of place, paralyzed by the idea of having to start writing again, she meets Elle, a young, attractive, intelligent, intuitive woman who seems to understand her better than anyone.

Screenplay

Wasp Network

Wasp Network · 2020

MovieDramaHistory

Havana, Cuba, 1990. René González, an airplane pilot, unexpectedly flees the country, leaving behind his wife Olga and his daughter Irma, and begins a new life in Miami, where he becomes a member of an anti-Castro organization.

Director

Irma Vep

Irma Vep · 1996

MovieComedyDrama

A has-been French filmmaker wants a Hong Kong actress to be the heroine in a rendering of Les Vampires.

Director

Passages

Passages · 2023

MovieRomanceDrama

Tomas and Martin are a gay couple living in Paris whose marriage is thrown into crisis when Tomas impulsively begins a passionate affair with young schoolteacher Agathe. But when Martin begins an affair of his own, Tomas must confront life decisions he may be unprepared—or unwilling—to deal with.

Thanks

To Each His Own Cinema

To Each His Own Cinema · 2007

To Each His Own Cinema

MovieComedyDrama

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

Director

Bergman Island

Bergman Island · 2021

MovieDramaRomance

An English-German filmmaking couple retreat to Fårö for the summer to each write screenplays for their upcoming films in an act of pilgrimage to the place that inspired Ingmar Bergman. As the summer and their screenplays advance, the lines between reality and fiction start to blur against the backdrop of the Island's wild landscape.

Thanks

Demonlover

Demonlover · 2002

MovieDramaMystery

A French corporation goes head-to-head with an American web media company for the rights to a 3-D manga pornography studio, resulting in a power struggle that culminates in violence and espionage.

Writer

The Prince and the Pauper

The Prince and the Pauper · 1977

The Prince and the Pauper

MovieDramaAdventure

Tom Canty is a poor English boy who bears a remarkable resemblance to Edward, Prince of Wales and son of King Henry VIII. The two boys meet and decide to play a joke on the court by dressing in each other's clothes, but the plan goes awry when they're separated and each must live the other's life.

Third Assistant Director

Non-Fiction

Non-Fiction · 2018

MovieComedyDrama

Alain, a successful Parisian publisher struggling to adapt to the digital revolution, has major doubts about the new manuscript of Léonard, one of his long-time authors — another work of auto-fiction recycling his love affair with a minor celebrity. Selena, Alain’s wife, a famous stage actress, is of the opposite opinion.

Director

Broken April

Broken April · 1987

A 100-year-old family feud in Albania continues to target men for vengeful execution in this somber drama.

Writer

Lovely Child

Lovely Child · 1990

MovieCrimeDrama

Maria is a sweet child. She hasn’t father and doesn’t like her mother. She has a boyfriend, A bandit who would like to change his class.

Writer

Rendez-vous

Rendez-vous · 1985

MovieDramaRomance

Nina is a young, carefree actress who arrives in Paris searching for her big break. There, she finds drama both on- and offstage as she becomes involved with three men: a mild-mannered real-estate agent who offers her stability, a bad-boy actor who lives dangerously on the edge, and an intense theater director who casts her in a production of “Romeo and Juliet.” As opening night approaches, the emotional extremes of Nina’s love life fuel her art.

Screenplay

Carlos

MovieCrimeDrama

The story of Venezuelan revolutionary, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the OPEC headquarters in 1975 before being caught by the French police.

Director

Something in the Air

Something in the Air · 2012

Something in the Air

MovieRomanceDrama

During the 1970s a student named Gilles gets entangled in contemporary political turmoils although he would rather just be a creative artist. While torn between his solidarity to his friends and his personal ambitions he falls in love with Christine.

Director

Disorder

Disorder · 1986

MovieDramaMusic

Three young friends steal some music equipment for their struggling post-punk band and, in a panic, kill the shop’s owner. The film examines, with characteristic restraint and acuity, the psychological fallout as the band unravels—and each of its members grapple with their own feelings of guilt, paranoia, and despair.

Writer

Boarding Gate

Boarding Gate · 2007

MovieThrillerDrama

A beautiful woman, Sandra, seduces a wealthy businessman, Miles Rennburg. Little does he realise that she has been sent to kill him at the behest of her boyfriend/crime partner, Lester. Controlling all this is Sue, Lester's wife.

Writer

Summer Hours

Summer Hours · 2008

After the death of a septuagenarian woman, her three children deliberate over what to do with her estate.

Director

Clean

After she ends up in prison and loses custody of her son, a woman struggles to assimilate outside her former life and remain clean long enough to regain custody of her son.

Writer

Late August, Early September

Late August, Early September · 1999

Late August, Early September

MovieDramaRomance

A book editor juggles relationships with two women while coping with his best friend's terminal illness.

Director

Sentimental Destinies

Sentimental Destinies · 2000

Sentimental Destinies

MovieDramaRomance

In late nineteenth century Charante, Protestant minister Jean Barnery causes local disquiet when he arranges a separation from his obsessive wife. He and his lover keep their love strong as the world changes around them.

Director

Irma Vep

Irma Vep · 2022

SeriesComedyDrama

Mira is an American movie star disillusioned by her career and a recent breakup, who comes to France to star as “Irma Vep” in a remake of the French silent film classic, “Les Vampires.” Set against the backdrop of a lurid crime thriller, Mira struggles as the distinctions between herself and the character she plays begin to blur and merge.

Executive Producer

Carlos

SeriesDramaCrime

The story of the Venezuelan Ilich Ramirez Sanchez known as "Carlos", who was, for almost twenty years, one of the most wanted terrorists in the world.

Director

All the Boys and Girls of Their Time

All the Boys and Girls of Their Time · 1994

All the Boys and Girls of Their Time

Tous les garçons et les filles de leur âge... is a French anthology tv series. Filmmakers were given the opportunity to portray an episode about the coming of age of young people during one of the past few decades, accompanied by music of that period.

Director