Raoul Coutard

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 September 1924 – 8 November 2016)^[1] was a French cinematographer. He is best known for his connection with the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague) period and particularly for his work with director Jean-Luc Godard, which includes Breathless (1960), A Woman Is a Woman (1961), Vivre sa vie (1962), Bande à part (1964), Alphaville, Pierrot le Fou (both 1965), and Weekend (1967). Coutard also shot films for New Wave director François Truffaut—including Shoot the Piano Player (1960) and Jules and Jim (1962)—as well as Jacques Demy, a contemporary frequently associated with the movement.

Coutard shot over 75 films during a career that lasted nearly half a century.

Biography

Coutard originally planned to study

, La Passe du Diable. Coutard had never used a movie camera before, and reportedly agreed to the job because of a misunderstanding (he believed he was being hired to shoot production stills of the film).

Collaboration with Godard

Coutard's first work collaboration with Jean-Luc Godard was Godard's first feature, À bout de souffle, shot in 1959. He was reportedly "imposed" on Godard by producer Georges de Beauregard; the director had already settled on a different cinematographer.^[2]

Coutard photographed nearly all of Godard's work in the

.

During the New Wave period, Coutard's work with Godard fell into two categories: black-and-white films, which were all shot

(1983). These were photographed by Coutard using no additional lighting whatsoever, but taking advantage of recent developments in camera lenses and film stock to press the documentary approach in striking ways.

Post-Nouvelle Vague Career

After photographing some of the last films made during the nouvelle vague era – Week-end for Godard and Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black – Coutard worked on Costa-Gavras' Z (1969). Coutard and Truffaut fought heavily over the cinematography of The Bride Wore Black, reported TCM host Robert Osborne after the cable network's 2009 showing of the film.

In 1970, Coutard wrote and directed his first feature film,

(1967).

As a cinematographer, Coutard was less active in the 1970s than the 1960s. When he reunited with Godard in 1982, Coutard had shot only 7 films in the previous decade, with 5 of them in 1972–73.[8] After the two Godard collaborations, he began working more frequently again.

During the 1990s, Coutard began working with director Philippe Garrel; his last work was Garrel's Sauvage Innocence, which was released in 2001.

Selected filmography (as cinematographer)

• La Passe du Diable (The Devil's Pass) (1958)
• Ramuntcho (1959)
• Pêcheur d'Islande (Iceland Fisherman) (1959)
• À bout de souffle
  (Breathless) (1960)
• Tirez sur le pianiste
  (Shoot the Piano Player) (1960)
• Une Femme est une femme
  (A Woman Is a Woman) (1961)
• Vivre sa Vie: Film en Douze Tableaux
  (My Life to Live) (1962)
• Jules et Jim
  (1962)
• Portuguese Vacation (1963)
• Le petit soldat (1963)
• Le Mépris (Contempt) (1963)
• Les plus belles escroqueries du monde
  (The most beautiful swindles in the world) (1964)
• La Peau Douce
  (The Soft Skin) (1964)
• Bande à part (aka. Band of Outsiders) (1964)
• Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution
  (Alphaville, a Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution) (1965)
• Pierrot le Fou (Crazy Pete or Pete Goes Wild) (1965)
• La Chinoise (1967)
• Week End
  (1967)
• Rocky Road to Dublin (1967)
• Z (1969)
• L'Aveu
  (1970)
• Five Leaf Clover
  (1972)
• Embassy (1972)
• Le Crabe-tambour (1977)
• Passion (1982)
• Prénom Carmen
  (1983)
• Max, Mon Amour (Max, My Love) (1986)
• Let Sleeping Cops Lie (Ne réveillez pas un flic qui dort) (1988)

Filmography (as director)

• Hoa-Binh (1970)
• La Légion saute sur Kolwezi
  (1980)
• S.A.S. à San Salvador (1983)

Filmography (as actor)

• Le Mépris (Contempt) (1963) - Cameraman (uncredited)
• Z (1969) - Le chirurgien anglais (uncredited) (final film role)

References

External links

• Raoul Coutard at
  IMDb
• "Images of Perfection" - Interview with Guardian Film
• Raoul Coutard tells his life story at Web of Stories