Sautet was a French screenwriter and director. Before studying film in Paris he studied painting and sculpture. He became a TV producer and from mid-1950’s he was assistant director to many directors on unknown films, except for the last one Georges Franju’s Eyes Without A Face (Les yeux sans visage, 1960). He directed his first feature film Bonjour sourire! in 1956. From the end of 1950’s he started to write screenplays as well. Some of his more important films that he directed are the crime drama Classe tous risques (1960), drama Les choses de la vie (1970), crime drama Max et les ferrailleurs (1971), love drama César and Rosalie (1972), drama Vincent, François, Paul... et les autres (1974) and the drama Une histoire simple (1978), which was one of his best collaborations with the actress Romy Schneider. After several unsuccessful films in the 1980’s he reestablished himself as a director with the films Un coeur en hiver (1992) and Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995). In both of these he worked with the actress Emmanuelle Béart, and it won awards on several film festivals including the one for best director.