Michael Lonsdale brought a rich voice, dry delivery and a questioning posture to men accustomed to being obeyed. We rate the understatement; his emotionally intense work with Marguerite Duras gives us another reason to follow him.
Fi1m perspective
The stoop is a useful complication for an actor so often cast as a man in authority. Michael Lonsdale has the size and voice for priests, abbots and police commissioners, yet his questioning posture keeps certainty from looking quite so comfortable. That dry delivery can make these men funny without turning them into fools. We value the restraint because it leaves room for a feeling to arrive without a large announcement.
Stolen Kisses (1968), with François Truffaut, brought critical notice; the dogged Lebel in The Day of the Jackal (1973) brought wider recognition. He continued working in French auteur cinema alongside international productions, without abandoning the more demanding, stylised work. Marguerite Duras’s India Song (1975) drew on his capacity for emotional intensity; Hugo Drax in Moonraker (1979) offered a different use for his authority. Later, Luc in Of Gods and Men (2010) gave him a contemplative part.
We were moved by The Remains of the Day (1993), because Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson make polite conversation painfully affecting. Lonsdale’s part is Dupont D'Ivry, within a supporting cast rather than at the centre of the romance. James Ivory worked with him on two films, and this one places him among actors whose restraint carries considerable feeling. Our reservation is the music, which sometimes insists on an emotion the performances have already made clear; it is a film to choose for the company, not as a Lonsdale vehicle.
The same caveat applies to Ronin (1998), where his Jean-Pierre is a small but memorable presence in John Frankenheimer’s thriller. Frankenheimer worked with him on three films, a substantial partnership behind what can look like a succession of supporting credits. We recommend this one for its tension, Robert De Niro and Jean Reno, and car chases that deserve the attention they receive. The plotting is less dependable, and Lonsdale’s brief appearance is not sufficient reason on its own to choose it. For a fuller sense of what he could do, make India Song the next stop.
Biography
Michael Lonsdale was a French-British actor who appeared in over 180 films and television productions. He was born Michael Edward Lonsdale-Crouch on 24 May 1931 in Paris and died on 21 September 2020 in Paris. He was bilingual and worked in both French- and English-language productions.
He is known for roles including Hugo Drax in Moonraker (1979), Claude Lebel in The Day of the Jackal (1973), the Abbot in The Name of the Rose (1986), Dupont D'Ivry in The Remains of the Day (1993) and Jean-Pierre in Ronin (1998). In 2011 he won the César Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Of Gods and Men (2010). Lonsdale also wrote ten books.
