Alexandre Trauner and Joseph Losey: Crafting the World of M Klein

When Joseph Losey set out to make M Klein in 1976, he turned to one of Europe’s most celebrated art directors, Alexandre Trauner, to help bring wartime Paris to life. Their collaboration on this film was not just a meeting of two accomplished professionals, but a convergence of personal histories and artistic philosophies that shaped the film’s haunting atmosphere and visual authenticity.

The Art Director’s Legacy

Alexandre Trauner was already a legend in the world of film design by the time he joined M Klein. Trained as a painter in Hungary, Trauner had built a career in France, working with some of the greatest directors of his era. His credits included an Oscar for Billy Wilder’s The Apartment and a reputation as the “dean of European art directors.” But for Trauner, M Klein was more than another prestigious project – it was deeply personal. Born Sándor Trau, he was a Hungarian Jew who had fled anti-Semitism in Hungary, only to face it again in Nazi-occupied France, where he went underground to survive.

Building the World of M Klein

Losey’s vision for M Klein demanded a level of realism and atmosphere that only a master like Trauner could deliver. The film was shot both in the controlled environment of Studios de Boulogne and on locations throughout Paris. While Losey preferred the unpredictability and grit of real locations, he grudgingly acknowledged the advantages of studio work: flexibility, control over lighting, and the ability to reconfigure sets as needed. Trauner’s skill lay in making these studio sets feel as authentic and lived-in as the city streets outside.

• Studio Mastery: Trauner and his team transformed the cavernous Stage A at Boulogne into convincing interiors, using movable walls and ceilings to create dynamic spaces for the camera and actors.
• Location Expertise: Trauner’s intimate knowledge of Paris allowed him to identify and secure locations that captured the city’s wartime character, from rundown tenements to grand public buildings.
• Visual Storytelling: Trauner’s approach was less about literal storyboarding and more about mood, color, and the “dressing” of the set. With Losey’s input he translated the screenplay’s emotional cues into physical spaces that reflected the film’s themes of identity, suspicion, and moral ambiguity.

A Partnership of Trust and Professionalism

Losey’s previous long-term collaboration with art director Richard Macdonald had ended before M Klein, making his partnership with Trauner especially significant. Trauner brought a different energy: more structured, less chaotic, but equally committed to artistic excellence. Losey praised Trauner’s professionalism and his ability to immediately grasp and adapt to the director’s needs, saying, “There’s a kind of professionalism about Trauner and a kind of immediate recognition of what I want. Also, if I say to Trauner that something that he’s doing is wrong for me, whatever it may be…he understands and can change this immediately”.

Personal History Meets Artistic Vision

What made Trauner’s contribution to M Klein so powerful was the way his personal history resonated with the film’s subject. Like Margot Capelier, the casting director, Trauner had lived through the Nazi occupation and the persecution of Jews in France. This experience gave him a unique sensitivity to the film’s themes and a determination to render them truthfully on screen. His bond with Capelier – her husband, Auguste Capelier, often collaborated with Trauner after the war – further deepened the sense of shared purpose among the creative team.

The Lasting Impact

The world that Trauner built for M Klein is more than a backdrop; it is a character in its own right, shaping the film’s mood and immersing viewers in the paranoia and uncertainty of occupied Paris. His work stands as a testament to the power of art direction in cinema and to the importance of personal history in shaping artistic achievement.

Through his collaboration with Joseph Losey, Alexandre Trauner helped make M Klein not just a film about history, but a living, breathing evocation of a world on the edge – crafted by someone who had survived its darkest days.

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Alexandre Trauner’s Film Credits

Year	Film	Director	Credit	Awards
1932	À nous la liberté	René Clair	Assistant Set Designer
1935	La Kermesse héroïque	Jacques Feyder	Assistant Set Designer
1937	Drôle de drame	Marcel Carné	Set Designer
1938	Port of Shadows (Quai des brumes)	Marcel Carné	Set Designer
1938	Hôtel du Nord	Marcel Carné	Set Designer
1939	Le jour se lève	Marcel Carné	Set Designer
1942	Les Visiteurs du soir	Marcel Carné	Set Designer
1943	Lumière d'été	Jean Grémillon	Set Designer
1945	Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du paradis)	Marcel Carné	Set Designer
1946	Les Portes de la nuit	Marcel Carné	Set Designer
1948-1950	Othello	Orson Welles	Production Designer
1954	Du rififi chez les hommes	Jules Dassin	Production Designer
1955	Land of the Pharaohs	Howard Hawks	Art Director
1956	Love in the Afternoon	Billy Wilder	Art Director
1957	Witness for the Prosecution	Billy Wilder	Art Director
1959	The Nun's Story	Fred Zinnemann	Art Director
1960	The Apartment	Billy Wilder	Art Director	Academy Award for Best Art Direction (1961)
1961	One, Two, Three	Billy Wilder	Art Director
1961	Paris Blues	Martin Ritt	Art Director
1961	Goodbye Again	Anatole Litvak	Art Director
1962	Five Miles to Midnight	Anatole Litvak	Art Director
1964	Behold a Pale Horse	Fred Zinnemann	Production Designer
1966	How to Steal a Million	William Wyler	Production Designer
1967	The Night of the Generals	Anatole Litvak	Production Designer
1970	The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes	Billy Wilder	Production Designer
1974	The Man Who Would Be King	John Huston	Production Designer
1976	Mr. Klein	Joseph Losey	Production Designer	César Award for Best Production Design (1977)
1977	Fedora	Billy Wilder	Production Designer
1978	Don Giovanni	Joseph Losey	Production Designer	César Award for Best Production Design (1979)
1981	Coup de torchon	Bertrand Tavernier	Production Designer
1982	La Truite	Joseph Losey	Production Designer	César Award for Best Production Design (1983)
1983	Tchao Pantin	Claude Berri	Production Designer
1985	Subway	Luc Besson	Production Designer	César Award for Best Production Design (1986)
1985	Harem	Arthur Joffé	Production Designer
1986	Round Midnight	Bertrand Tavernier	Production Designer
1989	Reunion	Jerry Schatzberg	Production Designer
1990	The Rainbow Thief	Alejandro Jodorowsky	Production Designer

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More about Alexandre Trauner

“Alexandre Trauner.” In Wikipedia, March 18, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexandre_Trauner&oldid=1145366800.

“Alexandre Trauner | Film Art, Production Design & Cinematography | Britannica.” Accessed July 7, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexandre-Trauner.

Europe of Cultures. “Europe of Cultures – Alexandre Trauner, Decorator of Film Sets. – Ina.Fr.” http://fresques.ina.fr/europe-des-cultures-en/fiche-media/Europe00130/alexandre-trauner-decorator-of-film-sets.html.

Forbes, Jill. “Alexandre Trauner.” Sight and Sound, London: British Film Institute, Fall 1986. 1305511273. ProQuest One Literature.

Giquello, Binoche et. Alexandre Trauner – Jacques Prévert: Correspondances, Dessins, Maquettes, Carnets, Photographies, Collages, 1932-1976. Binoche et Giquello, 2012.

Imdb. “Alexandre Trauner | Production Designer, Art Director, Set Decorator.” https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0871202/.

McCann, Ben. “What Trauner Did next: The Continuation of a French Design Aesthetic in an American Context.” French Cultural Studies 20, no. 1 (February 1, 2009): 65–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957155808099344.

McCann, Benjamin Edward. “Set Design, Spatial Configurations and the Architectonics of 1930s French Poetic Realist Cinema,” n.d.

Mubi. “Images of the Day. From Sketch to the Screen: ‘Hôtel Du Nord’ (1938),” October 9, 2010. https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/images-of-the-day-from-sketch-to-the-screen-hotel-du-nord-1938.

Webformance. “Trauner, Sándor (Alexandre Trauner) (1906 – 1993) – Famous Hungarian Painter, Graphic.” Kieselbach. https://www.kieselbach.hu/artist/trauner_-sandor-_alexandre-trauner__1948.