Screenwriting the Euro-noir thriller: the subtext of Jacques Audiard’s artistic signature

Abstract This article discusses the films of Jacques Audiard from the perspective of the screenwriting process. It evaluates his work as a screenwriter, and the ways in which the development process of his screenplays can inform his cinema and distinctive style. Audiard always writes with collaborators and views the filmmaking process as a team effort. Beyond establishing his own personal signature renewal of the European thriller through complex narratives, Audiard has developed a filmmaking method in which the so-called writing stage seems to extend far beyond pre-production, to influence the shooting, and finally shape the editing process completed in post-production.