Alain Resnais: 1922 - 2014

Updated: 21:52 03/02/14 with Alan Ayckbourn quote
Alain Resnais, the acclaimed French film auteur, has died this weekend at the age of 91.

His last film was Aimer, Boire et Chanter, an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's Life Of Riley. This was the third Ayckbourn play adapted by Resnais following Smoking / No Smoking (Intimate Exchanges) in 1993 and Coeurs (Private Fears In Public Places) in 2006.
Sir Alan Ayckbourn said of the news: "I have lost not only a dear personal friend but a close kindred creative spirit."
Resnais was a great fan of Alan Ayckbourn's work and the pair first met in Scarborough at the Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round, to which Resnais frequently visited. He later married his wife Sabine Azema in Scarborough, for whom Alan Ayckbourn wrote a French-speaking part in his play House & Garden (1999) as a wedding present.
Alan Ayckbourn recently said he thought Aimer, Boire et Chanter - which has just won a Silver Bear at the Berlinale 2014 - was "extraordinaire."
His producer, Jean-Louis Livi, also noted Resnais was working on his next script Arrivées Et Départs; an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's 2013 play Arrivals & Departures.
The Guardian's obituary for Alain Resnais can be found here and the Variety obituary here.