Born in 1944, Patrice Chereau spent his childhood in Paris with two painter parents who gave him his taste for the arts. He began his career in theatre at the age of 22, as director of the Theatre de Sartrouville, before going on to work at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. In Italy he staged a number of plays, (Neruda, Wedekind's 'Lulu', Marivaux, Dorst), as well as Rossini's opera 'The Italian Girl in Algiers' at the Spoleto Festival. As co-director of the TNP de Villeurbanne from 1972 to 1981 with Roger Planchon and Robert Gilbert, he tackled Marlowe, Marivaux (La Dispute), Bond (Lear), Wenzel and Ibsen (Peer Gynt). In 1974, he staged Offenbach's 'Tales of Hoffmann' at the Opera de Paris. With Pierre Boulez as conductor, he directed Wagner's 'Ring' cycle at Bayreuth (1976), followed by the complete version of Berg's 'Lulu' at the Opιra de Paris (1979). In 1982, he became the director of the Theatre des Amandiers in Nanterre, with Catherine Tasca. He met Bernard-Marie Koltes and helped make his reputation by directing most of his works (Combat de negre et de chien, Quai Ouest, Dans la Solitude des champs de coton, Le Retour au desert). He also staged Genet, Marivaux, Heiner Muller, Chekhov and Shakespeare (Hamlet, Avignon 1988). In 1983, 'L'Homme blesse' made his reputation among cinema lovers and won him a Cesar the next year for best script. During this period he also directed Mozart's 'Lucio Silla'; after leaving the Amandiers in 1990, he staged 'Wozzeck' at the Chatelet in 1992 and 'Don Giovanni' in Salzburg, 1994. In cinema, after 'La chair de l'orchidee' (1975), with Charlotte Rampling, Judith Therpauve (1978), with Simone Signoret, 'L'homme blesse' (1983), with Jean Hugues Anglade and Vittorio Mezzogiorno, 'Hotel de France' (1987), 'Le Temps et la Chambre' (1992), 'La Reine Margot' (with Isabelle Adjani) won the jury prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, followed by five Cesars. After this his folms became more personal. 'Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train' brought him back to Cannes in 1998, while 'Intimacy', filmed in English in London, won the Golden Bear at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival and afterwards the Louis-Delluc prize. The two films shocked with their realism and crudity, but were also noted for the power of their direction. With 'Son frere', (Silver Bear in Berlin), Patrice Chereau continued this trajectory, concentrating on a more intimate story, as in Intimacy: that of a man who finds himself unable to bear the fear which illness engenders in him. He returned to the theatre in 2003 to stage Racine's 'Phedre' with Dominique Blanc, (Odeon-Theatre de l'Europe, RuhrTriennale and Vienna Festival). His last film, 'Gabrielle', with Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory) was released in September 2005. In July 2005, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte marked his return to opera at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and subsequently at the Opera de Paris (September and October 2006) as well as the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, in June 2005 and November 2006). He worked in opera throughout 2007, with Janacek's 'From the House of the Dead', conducted by Pierre Boulez (Vienna Festival, Holland Festival and Aix-en-Provence) and finally Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde', conducted by Daniel Barenboim, at la Scala, Milan (December 2007). Photos by Ros Ribas.