---
name: "Philippe Morier-Genoud"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/philippe-morier-genoud"
fi1m_id: "philippe-morier-genoud"
imdb_id: "nm0605429"
tmdb_id: 19075
wikidata_id: "Q2087671"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "2 March 1944"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 85
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-09-26T03:03:18.387173+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."
---

# Philippe Morier-Genoud

## Identity

Philippe Morier-Genoud

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/philippe-morier-genoud
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** philippe-morier-genoud
- **IMDb ID:** nm0605429
- **TMDB ID:** 19075
- **Wikidata ID:** Q2087671
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Morier-Genoud, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2087671, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0605429/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/19075

Actor. Born 2 March 1944 in Thonon-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 2 March 1944, Thonon-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France
- **Active:** 1987–1999
- **Also known as:** Philippe Morier Genoud
- **Average Fi1m score:** 85, as actor, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 90 (1), 1990s 84 (4)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 85 to 79 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 2 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 5, Comedy 2, History 1, Mystery 1, Romance 1, War 1
- **Screen time:** 10 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $13m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Morier-Genoud, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2087671, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0605429/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/19075

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Au Revoir les Enfants*](https://film.one/film/au-revoir-les-enfants.md) (90)
- **The Criterion Channel:** [*Cyrano de Bergerac*](https://film.one/film/cyrano-de-bergerac.md) (88)

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

## Fi1m on Philippe Morier-Genoud

> Philippe Morier-Genoud is most persuasive when authority comes with responsibilities that other characters cannot quite see. His Father Jean in *Au Revoir les Enfants* gives us the clearest reason to seek out his supporting work.

In *Au Revoir les Enfants* (1987), Philippe Morier-Genoud's Father Jean belongs to an adult world the boys can see but cannot fully understand. The school shelters Jewish pupils, yet Louis Malle keeps the children's friendships and daily routines at the centre. Morier-Genoud helps the danger remain close without taking the film away from them. We value him here because he makes an adult's responsibilities felt while leaving room for the children to have concerns of their own.

His screen work began as a doctor in François Truffaut's *The Woman Next Door* (1981), and priests, judges and military officers recur among his parts. Supporting roles in French auteur films followed through the 1980s and 1990s, alongside sustained theatre work with Georges Lavaudant. That ensemble background is a useful clue to his appeal: he can matter without being the person a scene is principally about. The later casting as Jean Cocteau in *Yves Saint Laurent* (2014) took him beyond those institutional figures.

In *Cyrano de Bergerac* (1990), he plays Le Bret, Cyrano's loyal friend and confidant, for Jean-Paul Rappeneau. The friendship gives him a place close to the central character, though Gérard Depardieu's funny, painfully vulnerable Cyrano is the performance that makes us recommend the film. Rappeneau keeps the verse-speaking romance moving, even when its emotional insistence grows tiring.

We were moved by *Au Revoir les Enfants* because the boys' efforts to be accepted never become trivial beside the danger surrounding them. Father Jean makes the adults' responsibility for the pupils felt, even while Malle stays with the children's own concerns. The school sometimes feels a little too carefully arranged in memory, but Malle's attention to friendship more than justifies our recommendation. Start with Malle; save Rappeneau for an evening when a little emotional insistence will be welcome.

## Biography

Philippe Morier-Genoud is a French theatre and film actor. Born on 2 March 1944 in Thonon-les-Bains, he studied philosophy and pedagogy in Grenoble from 1964 to 1968, where he met theatre director Georges Lavaudant and began working in the theatre.

He was a member of the Centre Dramatique National des Alpes in Grenoble (1975–1985), the Théâtre National Populaire in Villeurbanne (1985–1995) and the Théâtre de l’Odéon in Paris (1995–2005). His film roles include Father Jean in *Au revoir les enfants* (1987), Le Bret in *Cyrano de Bergerac* (1990), the Judge in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s *Three Colours: Blue* (1993) and *Three Colours: White* (1994), and the voice of Jules César in the Asterix films *The Mansions of the Gods* (2014) and *The Secret of the Magic Potion* (2018). He was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 2015.

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

## On Fi1m (5)

- *Time Regained* (1999), Fi1m 80, as Monsieur Cottard — [page](https://film.one/film/time-regained.md)
- *Three Colors: White* (1994), Fi1m 78, as Judge — [page](https://film.one/film/three-colors-white.md)
- *Three Colors: Blue* (1993), Fi1m 88, as The Judge — [page](https://film.one/film/three-colors-blue.md)
- *Cyrano de Bergerac* (1990), Fi1m 88, as 'Le Bret' — [page](https://film.one/film/cyrano-de-bergerac.md)
- *Au Revoir les Enfants* (1987), Fi1m 90, as Father Jean — [page](https://film.one/film/au-revoir-les-enfants.md)

## Complete filmography (54)

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

- *Les Égoïstes* (2024), as L'homme sur le banc
- *The Last Mercenary* (2021), as General Hugo
- *Requiem* (2021), as Lucien
- *The Golden Anniversary* (2019), as VGE
- *Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion* (2018), as Jules César (voice)
- *Les Naufragés* (2016), as Joel
- *Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods* (2014), as Jules César (voice)
- *Yves Saint Laurent* (2014), as Jean Cocteau
- *Zarafa* (2012), as Saint-Hilaire (voice)
- *À la recherche du temps perdu* (2011), series, as Cottard
- *Streamfield, les carnets noirs* (2010), as Gaspard Arthus
- *Pardon My French* (2009), as Dimitri, the mother's friend
- *A Christmas Tale* (2008), as Freemason Friend
- *L'étrangère* (2007), as David
- *La Grande Peur dans la montagne* (2006), as Pierre Crittin
- *Alerte à Paris!* (2006), as Paul Cirelli
- *Nina's House* (2005), as M. Gélin
- *Green Paradise* (2004), as Professeur Mortier
- *Jean Moulin* (2002), series, as Violette
- *Safe Conduct* (2002), as Maurice Tourneur
- *Léon Blum : Thérèse et Léon* (2001), as André Gide
- *Time Regained* (1999), as Monsieur Cottard — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/time-regained.md)
- *The Visitors II: The Corridors of Time* (1998), as Frère Ponce
- *Pierre and Marie* (1997), as De Clausat
- *Fiesta* (1995), as Los Cobos
- *The Promise* (1995), as Rubländer
- *Le Cœur étincelant* (1995), Actor
- *The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed* (1994), as Mr. Clarke
- *Joan the Maid II: The Prisons* (1994), as Philippe Le Bon
- *Three Colors: White* (1994), as Judge — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/three-colors-white.md)
- *Three Colors: Blue* (1993), as The Judge — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/three-colors-blue.md)
- *La Joie de vivre* (1993), as Eusèbe
- *Grand bonheur* (1993), as Froidevaux
- *Princesse Alexandra* (1992), series, as L'empereur
- *Love at First Sight* (1992), series, as Boissière
- *Maigret* (1991), series, as Théo
- *Mother* (1991), as Prosecutor
- *I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar* (1991), as Stepbrother
- *Un type bien* (1991), as Père de Sybille
- *Voyager* (1991), as Guillaume
- *The Sheltering Sky* (1990), as Captain Broussard
- *Forgery and the Use of Forgeries* (1990), as Delplaire, le critique
- *Cyrano de Bergerac* (1990), as 'Le Bret' — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/cyrano-de-bergerac.md)
- *Julie de Carneilhan* (1990), as Leon de Carneilhan
- *Bunker Palace Hotel* (1989), as Destoop
- *The Bathroom* (1989), as l'ami des parents
- *Radio corbeau* (1989), as Me Flamant, le notaire
- *Monsieur Martin aura quarante ans demain* (1988), as Monsieur Martin
- *Au Revoir les Enfants* (1987), as Father Jean — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/film/au-revoir-les-enfants.md)
- *Burning Bush* (1987), as Le père de Julie
- *Wuthering Heights* (1985), as Joseph
- *Secret Passage* (1985), as Burles
- *Confidentially Yours* (1983), as Supt. Santelli
- *The Woman Next Door* (1981), as Doctor

---
© 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/philippe-morier-genoud