Frederick Wiseman

Producteur, Directeur, Éditeur, Acteur, Scénariste

1 janvier 1930 — 16 février 2026 (96 ans)
Frederick Wiseman (January 1, 1930 — February 16, 2026) was an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theatre director. As a documentarian, Wiseman has been noted for his ability to capture the nuances of life in American institutions such as prisons, hospitals, welfare offices, and high schools. He started out in 1963 by producing a narrative feature, The Cool World, an examination of the lives of Harlem teenagers. In the beginning, Wiseman was a staunch social reformist, and his films were calls for change.

Titicut Follies, his first documentary, is an exposé of life in a prison for the criminally insane in Bridgewater, MA. It was controversial and left Wiseman with the reputation of being a muckraker. His four subsequent documentaries were all exposés of other tax-supported institutions designed to show the ineffectiveness of the bureaucracy that not only threatens to destroy them, but also dehumanizes the people they were meant to serve. Wiseman toned down his message and began focusing more on American culture to point out the symbolism of daily activities in his film Primate (1974).

In the 1980s, he began examining institutions as they relate to ideology. Unlike other documentaries, Wiseman’s work does not progress chronologically; rather, the segments are arranged thematically, like an essay, and are linked via rhetorical devices such as comparison and contrast to create a patterned structure. His films are never narrated, thereby forcing viewers to make connections between the sequences themselves. Wiseman has occasionally returned to fictional films, albeit in a non-fiction performance style, as with Seraphita’s Diary (1982) and La Derniere Lettre (2002).

Films & Séries sur Plex

  • Les Enfants des autres
    Les Enfants des autres2022
  • À mon seul désir
    À mon seul désir2023

Connue pour

  • Titicut Follies
    Titicut Follies1967
  • Ex Libris: New York Public Library
    Ex Libris: New York Public Library2017
  • High School
    High School1968
  • National Gallery
    National Gallery2014
  • At Berkeley
    At Berkeley2013
  • Hospital
    Hospital1970
  • City Hall
    City Hall2020
  • In Jackson Heights
    In Jackson Heights2015
  • Crazy Horse
    Crazy Horse2011
  • Welfare
    Welfare1975
  • Menus-plaisirs - Les Troisgros
    Menus-plaisirs - Les Troisgros2023
  • Harlem Story
    Harlem Story1963
  • La Loi et l'ordre
    La Loi et l'ordre1969
  • La danse - Le ballet de L'Opéra de Paris
    La danse - Le ballet de L'Opéra de Paris2009
  • Monrovia, Indiana
    Monrovia, Indiana2018
  • Boxing Gym
    Boxing Gym2010
  • Near Death
    Near Death1989
  • The Store
    The Store1983
  • Juvenile Court
    Juvenile Court1973
  • Vie privée
    Vie privée2025

Filmographie