Claude Sautet was born in 1924. After secondary education at state schools, he enrolled at the School of Decorative Arts with the intention of studying painting and sculpture. Meanwhile he painted decors for films, than had a traineeship in film editing. His growing interest in cinema finally led him in 1948 to study for two years at IDHEC film school. In 1951 Sautet made his first film, the experimental short We Won't Go to the Woods Anymore. He earned a reputation as a superior scenarist before making name as a director. His first significant achievement, the craftily handled underworld melodrama The Big Risk (1960), was overshadowed by the activities of the younger New Wave directors. Despite numerous scriptwriting assignments, Sautet's directing career did not really get under way until 1969 when he completed The Things of Life, a keenly observed study of a mid-life crisis triggered by an automobile accident, which won him Louis-Delluc Prize in 1970. Sautet has subsequently turned out a number of finely observed social studies, often documenting the relations between large numbers of characters. His impressive body of intimist romantic stories in a carefully depicted middle-class setting included César and Rosalie (1972); Vincent, François, Paul and the Others (1974); Mado (1976) and Weiter! (1983), written for Yves Montand. Sautet's films represented French cinema at its best: clarity, simplicity, a balance between form and content, psychology and morals. They include every ingredient that deeply moves audiences: friendship, love, drama and all the things that make up life.