Alain Cavalier was born in 1931 in Vendôme, France. After studying history, he enrolled at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques and later became an assistant to Louis Malle. He began his directing career in 1958 with the short film Un Américain. Addressing contemporary political issues in his films, Alain Cavalier faced censorship challenges, particularly with his first two feature films: Le combat dans l'île (1961), portraying a fascist, and L'insoumis (1964), questioning the Algerian War. After primarily working on fiction films, he shifted towards a more experimental cinema, blending documentary and fiction. With Un étrange voyage (1981), Alain Cavalier achieved recognition, which was further confirmed by the success of Thérèse (1986), winning the Jury Prize at Cannes and six César awards upon its release. In 2004, he released Le filmeur, a filmed journal spanning over a decade in which he became the actor and commentator of his own life. He then directed Irène (2009) and Pater (2011). In 2017, he created Six portraits XL, adding to his generous gallery of portraits initiated thirty years earlier. In 2019, he directed Être vivant et le savoir, following the disappearance of his friend, the author Emmanuèle Bernheim. In 2022, he directed L'amitié, capturing the daily lives of three men in his circle.

About his series of Portraits shot between 1987 and 1991, Alain Cavalier has this to say : "These portraits are encounters that I would like to save from oblivion, if only for the few minutes they are in front of you. They are women who work, who have children and who, at the same time, maintain a spirit of independence. I shot 24 thirteen-minute portraits. I chose this short duration for several reasons: to avoid boredom, escape any commercial breaks, complete the film quickly, in a burst, and with minimal revisions. I'm not a documentary filmmaker. I'm more of an enthusiast for faces, hands, and objects. Depicting reality does not attract me. Reality is just a word, like its twin sister, fiction, which I also engage with, but with a different kind of pleasure."