Jacques Audiard Wouldn’t Mind Being Crushed by the Contents of the Criterion Closet — Watch His Visit

“I feel like this will all close in on me and I’ll disappear, which wouldn’t be such a bad fate, actually,” said “Emilia Pérez” writer/director Jacques Audiard as he surveyed the contents of the Criterion Closet.

The French filmmaker has been on a hot streak lately with his gonzo crime musical sweeping the European Film Awards last month and this month earning Outstanding Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes, as well as Outstanding Motion Picture – Non-English Language, Outstanding Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña, and Outstanding Original Song for “El Mal.” To celebrate these wins and potential Oscar fortune, Audiard took a brief trip off the red carpet to Criterion’s offices in New York City, where he selected a bagful of cinema’s finest, including Fritz Lang’s expressionistic serial-killer thriller starring Peter Lorre, “M.”

“For me, Lang is synonymous with silent films, even though he continued far past that era, and I think ‘M’ is the first major talking picture,” said Audiard (in his native French, of course). “It has such a particular use of sound and music and, as with all Lang films, incredibly dense images. In short, Fritz Lang is the master.”

After selecting Alfred Hitchcock’s WWII espionage thriller “Notorious” and advising viewers to think of him during all the romantic moments in the film, Audiard went on to select Michelangelo Antonioni’s seminal drama “L’avventura,” defining it as “pure modernity,” and comparing the filmmaker’s work with that of French auteur Jean-Luc Godard. Later, Audiard also grabbed Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts,” singling out his work as some of the most unique examples of cinema.

“I don’t know if people still talk about Robert Altman these days,” Audiard said. Referencing “Short Cuts,” he added, “For this film, he adapted Raymond Carver’s short stories and he did it so skillfully. His narratives are so free. They’re almost like surrealist, exquisite corpse exercises. It’s very profound. It has Carver’s depth and his levity. Very beautiful.”

In picking up the Essential Films of Federico Fellini set, Audiard offered particular appreciation for his work in “La Strada,” “I Vitelloni,” and “Il Bidone.” He also compared the work of Fellini with that of Lang, explaining how both offer completely different, but equally enticing aesthetics.

“I was saying that Lang had these dense images. His framing… There’s no room left in the frame. The frame closes in on the characters,” said Audiard. “Fellini is the opposite. There’s this depth of field around them. That’s the depth of life itself, and it’s devastating.”

Watch Audiard’s full Criterion Closet visit below.