Jean-Marie Straub of the film duo Straub-Huillet has died at the age of 89

French filmmaker Jean-Marie Straub, who together with his late wife Danièle Huillet formed one half of the radical art house film duo Straub-Huillet, has died at the age of 89 in Switzerland.

Originally from the industrial city of Metz in northeastern France, Straub moved to Paris as a student in the 1950s, where he first met Huillet.

The two were involved in the city’s then-legendary film scene, with Straub contributing to the Cahiers du Cinema and befriending then-co-editor Francois Truffaut.

Like many Film Magazine employees, Straub transitioned into filmmaking, working as an assistant to the likes of Jacques Rivette, Abel Gance, Jean Renoir and Robert Bresson.

The couple lived most of their lives outside of France, leaving the country for Germany in the late 1950s so that Straub could not be drafted for military service in Algeria.

Her two dozen works were stylistically and aesthetically radical, often shaped by engagement with communist thought and themes such as class struggle, anti-fascism and resistance.

First function Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, which debuted at the 1968 Berlin Film Festival, consisted of re-performances of the world premieres of Sebastian Bach’s works interwoven with excerpts from the imaginary diary of the composer’s second wife.

After Huillet died in France in 2006 at the age of 70, Straub continued to make films alone, amassing 54 features and shorts over the course of his career.

He worked until 2020. His short film was released in 2018 Read gens du lacabout a people smuggler who helps refugees and resistance fighters, was mentioned at the Swiss Festival Cinéma du Réel.