French film director Sautet, 76, dies

French film director Sautet, 76, dies

A former social worker and music critic, Sautet first made a name for himself in feature films as a screenwriter. He directed his first full-length feature film, "Bonjour Sourire", in 1955.

Sautet's early works were gangster thrillers.

He established a reputation outside France in 1969 with "Les Choses de la Vie" ("The Things of Life"), which examined the tribulations of a middle-class architect torn between an abiding attachment to his ex-wife and his new relationship.

Starring Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli -- actors who were to appear in several of Sautet's films -- the movie's examination of bourgeois preoccupations set a style the director was to follow throughout the 1970s.