Among his more late-in-life projects was co-writing with Jonathan Glazer and Milo Addica the 2004 drama “Birth.” Glazer, who also directed the film, shared with IndieWire a remembrance of Carrière, in which he reflected on how the pair developed the idea: “Birth,” which stars Nicole Kidman, Danny Huston, Lauren Bacall, and Anne Heche, had a divisive reception following its 2004 release. Though it was largely panned at the time, it has gone on to be reevaluated: Critic David Thompson named it one of 10 “lost works of genius,” while IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio wrote in 2014 the film was “still a masterpiece.”
Carrière was perhaps best known for his collaborations with Luis Buñuel, writing screenplays for “Diary of a Chambermaid,” “Belle de Jour,” “The Milky Way,” and “The Phantom of Liberty,” as well as the Oscar-nominated “That Obscure Object of Desire” and “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeousie.” Carrière’s most recent Academy Award nomination came in 1989 for “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” the novel adaptation he co-wrote with director Philip Kaufman. In 2015, he was bestowed an honorary Oscar for his rich career of writing that elevated “the art of screenwriting to the level of literature.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
