---
name: "Michel Hazanavicius"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/michel-hazanavicius"
fi1m_id: "michel-hazanavicius"
imdb_id: "nm0371890"
tmdb_id: 67717
wikidata_id: "Q28556"
roles: ["Director","Writer"]
born: "29 March 1967"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 79
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-02T22:01:33.150434+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Michel Hazanavicius

## Identity

Michel Hazanavicius

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/michel-hazanavicius
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** michel-hazanavicius
- **IMDb ID:** nm0371890
- **TMDB ID:** 67717
- **Wikidata ID:** Q28556
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Hazanavicius, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28556, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371890/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/67717

Director and writer. Born 29 March 1967 in Paris, France.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer
- **Born:** 29 March 1967, Paris, France
- **Active:** 2006–2011
- **Frequently works with:** [Bérénice Bejo](https://film.one/person/berenice-bejo.md), [Jean Dujardin](https://film.one/person/jean-dujardin.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 2 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 76 (1), 2010s 82 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Hazanavicius, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28556, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371890/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/67717

## Streaming the US now

- **Pluto TV:** [*The Artist*](https://film.one/film/the-artist.md) (82)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies*](https://film.one/film/oss-117-cairo-nest-of-spies.md) (76)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Michel Hazanavicius

> Michel Hazanavicius makes older film styles welcoming, with clear emotions and comedy that need no specialist knowledge to enjoy. We value the warmth; the reservation is that his nostalgia can leave a familiar story looking simpler than it should.

In *The Artist* (2011), a silent star struggles with talking pictures, and Michel Hazanavicius lets broad gestures and plainly shown feelings tell the story. There is no need to know the films he is borrowing from. We recommend it for its comedy and romance, with a reservation about how long it indulges its hero’s wounded pride. It makes a persuasive case for a director whose interest in old films is most useful when it helps people enjoy a new one.

His fondness for older styles was already clear in *OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies* (2006) and *OSS 117: Lost in Rio* (2009), spy parodies built around the conventions of 1960s cinema. The first established his partnership with Jean Dujardin. The move from those spoofs to silent Hollywood in *The Artist* changed the period, but kept the task of making an old style readable to a modern audience. Guillaume Schiffman is a recurring cinematographer in his work.

Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo give *The Artist* much of its warmth. We were touched by the romance because their mischief keeps the broad gestures from feeling laboured. Ludovic Bource’s score helps us follow the changes from comedy to sadness without continually telling us how much to feel. Hazanavicius and fellow editor Anne-Sophie Bion keep the comic timing alert.

The difficulty comes when Hazanavicius asks us to keep feeling sorry for George. Bion and Hazanavicius let his troubles repeat an emotional point that is already clear, and the middle grows slow. Nostalgia also makes the upheaval around him seem simpler than it should. The changing film business gets less attention than one man’s bruised pride, so a familiar story is asked to do more than it can.

*The Search* (2014) marked a turn towards dramatic subjects. *Godard Mon Amour* (2017) returned to cinema itself through a biopic of Jean-Luc Godard’s early career, while *The Most Precious of Cargoes* (2024) took Hazanavicius into animation. Those changes are reason enough not to assume that each film will offer the comforts of his period comedies. Start with *The Artist*, provided a little extended sulking will not spoil the evening.

## Biography

Michel Hazanavicius is a French film director, screenwriter and editor. He is best known for *The Artist* (2011), which he wrote, directed and co-edited. The black-and-white silent film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Hazanavicius.

Born in Paris in 1967, Hazanavicius began his career in television on Canal+ in 1988 and later directed commercials. His first feature, *Mes amis* (1999), starred his brother Serge Hazanavicius. He achieved commercial success in France with the spy parodies *OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies* (2006) and *OSS 117: Lost in Rio* (2009), both starring Jean Dujardin. He is married to actor Bérénice Bejo, who appeared in several of his films.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *The Artist* (2011), Fi1m 82, Editor, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-artist.md)
- *OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies* (2006), Fi1m 76, Director, Adaptation — [page](https://film.one/film/oss-117-cairo-nest-of-spies.md)

## Complete filmography (36)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Baise-en-ville* (2026), as Sprite's father
- *The Money Maker* (2026), Producer
- *I Love Peru* (2025), Actor
- *Cerfa* (2025), Actor
- *The Most Precious of Cargoes* (2024), Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *En attendant que mes larmes viennent* (2023), Co-Producer
- *Killing Blues* (2023), Co-Producer
- *Incredible But True* (2022), as Photographer
- *Final Cut* (2022), Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
- *Shake Your Cares Away* (2021), Co-Producer
- *Michel Hazanavicius raconte la grande histoire de « La Classe américaine »* (2020), as Michel Hazanavicius
- *The Lost Prince* (2020), Director, Screenplay, Adaptation
- *Keep an Eye Out* (2018), as Policeman 1
- *La mangeuse d’hommes* (2018), Actor
- *Godard Mon Amour* (2017), as Narrator #5 (voice) (uncredited) · Director, Screenplay, Producer, Editor
- *Reality* (2015), as Award Presenter
- *The Search* (2014), Director, Screenplay, Producer, Editor
- *Jacky in the Kingdom of Women* (2014), as Julin
- *La Classe américaine* (2012), Producer, Director of Photography
- *The Players* (2012), Director
- *The Artist* (2011), Director, Writer, Editor — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-artist.md)
- *OSS 117: Lost in Rio* (2009), Director, Screenplay
- *OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies* (2006), Director, Adaptation — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/oss-117-cairo-nest-of-spies.md)
- *Éric ké Ramzy - Nouveau spectacle* (2005), Writer
- *Lucky Luke and the Daltons* (2004), Screenplay
- *My Wife Is an Actress* (2001), as Le cameraman info sport
- *Sitcom, A Movie* (1999), Director, Writer
- *Le Clone* (1998), Writer
- *Echec au capital* (1997), Director
- *Didier* (1997), as Fabrice
- *Delphine : 1, Yvan : 0* (1996), as Régis · Writer
- *Fear City: A Family-Style Comedy* (1994), as Régis
- *La Classe américaine* (1993), as Dubbing Voice (voice) · Director, Screenplay
- *Ça détourne* (1992), Director, Writer
- *Derrick contre Superman* (1992), Producer, Director, Writer
- *The Third Hand*, Director, Writer, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Michel Hazanavicius](https://film.one/media/person/119968/gallery-1c5b6e05c0f1.jpg) Michel Hazanavicius — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Michel_Hazanavicius.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Anne-Sophie Bion & Penelope Ann Miller & Michel Hazanavicius at the ACE Eddie Awards 2012.](https://film.one/media/person/119968/gallery-2db752f82b31.jpg) Anne-Sophie Bion & Penelope Ann Miller & Michel Hazanavicius at the ACE Eddie Awards 2012. — MingleMediaTVNetwork, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Anne-Sophie_Bion%2C_Penelope_Ann_Miller%2C_Michel_Hazanavicious.jpg/1280px-Anne-Sophie_Bion%2C_Penelope_Ann_Miller%2C_Michel_Hazanavicious.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Michel Hazanavicius at the world premiere of The BFG, 2016 Cannes Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/119968/gallery-498d0052a6b7.jpg) Michel Hazanavicius at the world premiere of The BFG, 2016 Cannes Film Festival — GabboT, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Cannes_146_%2827836190240%29.jpg/1280px-Cannes_146_%2827836190240%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Le jury longs-métrages du festival de Gérardmer 2023.](https://film.one/media/person/119968/gallery-3063762be265.jpg) Le jury longs-métrages du festival de Gérardmer 2023. — ManoSolo13241324, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Jury_longs-m%C3%A9trages_festival_de_G%C3%A9rardmer_2023.jpg/1280px-Jury_longs-m%C3%A9trages_festival_de_G%C3%A9rardmer_2023.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![lors du Le Livre sur la Place, 2025.](https://film.one/media/person/119968/gallery-ce524eaf4047.jpg) lors du Le Livre sur la Place, 2025. — Gérald Garitan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/LslaP_Michel_Hazanavicius_1589574.jpg/1280px-LslaP_Michel_Hazanavicius_1589574.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![présent lors du Le Livre sur la Place, Nancy, 2025.](https://film.one/media/person/119968/gallery-155c87d81961.jpg) présent lors du Le Livre sur la Place, Nancy, 2025. — Gérald Garitan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/LslaP_Michel_Hazanavicius_1589583.jpg/1280px-LslaP_Michel_Hazanavicius_1589583.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won, 2 nominated

- 2012: Best Director (won), for *The Artist*
- 2012: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *The Artist*
- 2012: Best Film Editing (nominated), for *The Artist*

### BAFTA Film Awards — 1 won

- 2012: Best Direction (won), for *The Artist*

### Other awards — 4 won, 3 nominated

- René Clair Award 2025: René Clair Award (won)
- César Award for Best Adaptation 2023: César Award for Best Adaptation (nominated), for *Final Cut*
- François Morellet Prize 2023: François Morellet Prize (won)
- Knight of the Legion of Honour 2023: Knight of the Legion of Honour (won)
- César Award for Best Director 2012: César Award for Best Director (won), for *The Artist*
- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2012: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *The Artist*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2011: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *The Artist*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/michel-hazanavicius