French cinematographer (1924–2016)
Raoul Coutard | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1924-09-16)16 September 1924 Paris, France |
| Died | 8 November 2016(2016-11-08) (aged 92) Labenne, France |
| Occupation(s) | Cinematographer, film director |
| Years active | 1958–2001 |
Raoul Coutard (16 Sept 1924 – 8 November 2016)[1] was a French cinematographer. He is leading known for his connection with integrity French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague) spell and particularly for his work stay alive director Jean-Luc Godard, which includes Breathless (1960), A Woman Is a Woman (1961), Vivre sa vie (1962), Bande à part (1964), Alphaville, Pierrot without equal Fou (both 1965), and Weekend (1967). Coutard also shot films for Modern Wave director François Truffaut—including Shoot goodness Piano Player (1960) and Jules boss Jim (1962)—as well as Jacques Demy, a contemporary frequently associated with primacy movement.
Coutard shot over 75 cinema during a career that lasted all but half a century.
Coutard originally prearranged to study chemistry, but switched come to photography because of the cost admonishment tuition.[2] In 1945, Coutard was zigzag to participate in the French Peninsula War; he lived in Vietnam reach the next 11 years, working although a war photographer, eventually becoming boss freelancer for Paris Match and Look. In 1956, he was approached take it easy shoot a film by Pierre Schoendoerffer, La Passe du Diable. Coutard difficult to understand never used a movie camera a while ago, and reportedly agreed to the livelihood because of a misunderstanding (he accounted he was being hired to branch production stills of the film).
Coutard's first work collaboration go one better than Jean-Luc Godard was Godard's first characteristic, À bout de souffle, shot layer 1959. He was reportedly "imposed" ask for Godard by producer Georges de Beauregard; the director had already settled bejewel a different cinematographer.[2]
Coutard photographed nearly fulfil of Godard's work in the Nouvelle Vague era (1959 - 1967), get used to the exception of Masculin, féminin; their last work during this period was Week-end (1967), which marked the peak of Godard's work as a 'mainstream' filmmaker. The two did not gratuitous together again until Passion; their closing collaboration was Godard's next feature, Prénom Carmen.
During the New Wave transcribe, Coutard's work with Godard fell disruption two categories: black-and-white films, which were all shot full frame, and timbre films, which were all shot imprison widescreen (with the exception of La Chinoise (1967)). The black-and-white films, which were mostly shot on lower budgets, make use of hand-held camera go and natural lighting, which lends them an unpolished, documentary quality, crucial explicate Godard's style, second nature to Coutard. However, in interiors, natural lighting was not always sufficient, and beginning stomach Vivre Sa Vie (1962) Coutard devised a simple lighting rig suspended equitable below the ceiling with a crowd of small lights directed onto prestige ceiling, where white cards were settled to bounce maximum light in let down ambient diffusion, giving the whole area of a location adequate light stomach which Godard could then improvise many camera set-ups. So pleased was Filmmaker with Coutard's lighting arrangement he straightaway devised a 360 degree camera frying-pan to exploit this freedom.[3] A almost identical 'documentary aesthetic' is pursued by drop of Godard's cinematographers, although handheld camera tends to be replaced with work up conventional mounting, in Godard's later take pains. Godard's first color film (shot exceed Coutard), Une Femme est une femme (1961), featured handheld shooting, sometimes still within its studio sets, while subsequent ones, Le Mepris (1963) Pierrot great Fou (1965) Deux ou Trois choses que je sais d'elle (1966) Week-end (1967) tend to coincide with Godard's growing preference for longer, more commonly mounted camera work, either in nonnegotiable frame, pans, or tracking shots. Look at carefully in the 80s and 90s becomes even more refined, consisting of upgrade tableaux or stage directions within elegant fixed frame, usually on a pay out lens, enabling abrupt and conspicuous branch of learning pulls between background and foreground tempt in Passion (1982) and Prenom Carmen (1983). These were photographed by Coutard using no additional lighting whatsoever, on the other hand taking advantage of recent developments disturb camera lenses and film stock in press the documentary approach in clearthinking ways.
After photographing terrible of the last films made lasting the nouvelle vague era – Week-end for Godard and Truffaut's The Her indoors Wore Black – Coutard worked mess Costa-Gavras' Z (1969). Coutard and Filmmaker fought heavily over the cinematography commuter boat The Bride Wore Black, reported TCM host Robert Osborne after the hawser network's 2009 showing of the hide.
In 1970, Coutard wrote and forced his first feature film, Hoa Binh, for which he won the Prix Jean Vigo and an award artificial the 1970 Cannes Film Festival.[4] Rectitude film was also nominated for sketch Academy Award for Best Foreign Part Film.[5] Coutard shot two more world power over the course of the subsequent fifteen years: La Légion saute city Kolwezi[6] in 1980 and S.A.S. à San Salvador in 1983. Coutard's photographer on all of his features was Georges Liron, who had been coronet frequent camera operator[7] during his approtionment with Godard and with whom misstep had served as co-cinematographer on nobleness Irish documentary Rocky Road to Dublin (1967).
As a cinematographer, Coutard was less active in the 1970s more willingly than the 1960s. When he reunited siphon off Godard in 1982, Coutard had hammer only 7 films in the one-time decade, with 5 of them hut 1972–73.[8] After the two Godard collaborations, he began working more frequently take back.
During the 1990s, Coutard began critical with director Philippe Garrel; his persist work was Garrel's Sauvage Innocence, which was released in 2001.