Raoul Coutard
Raoul Coutard (16 September 1924 – 8 November 2016) was a French cinematographer. He is best known for his connection with the Nouvelle Vague period and particularly for his work with director Jean-Luc Godard. Coutard also shot films for New Wave director François Truffaut as well as Jacques Demy, a contemporary frequently associated with the movement.
He shot over 75 films during a career that lasted nearly half a century.
Coutard originally planned to study chemistry, but switched to photography because of the cost of tuition. In 1945, Coutard was sent to participate in the French Indochina War; he lived in Vietnam for the next 11 years, working as a war photographer, eventually becoming a freelancer for Paris Match and Look. In 1956, he was approached to shoot a film by Pierre Schoendoerffer, 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).
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.
Coutard photographed nearly all of Godard's work in the Nouvelle Vague era (1959 - 1967), with the exception of Masculin, féminin; their last work during this period was Week-end (1967), which marked the end of Godard's work as a 'mainstream' filmmaker. The two did not work together again until Passion; their final collaboration was Godard's next feature, Prénom Carmen. ...
Source: Article "Raoul Coutard" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
He shot over 75 films during a career that lasted nearly half a century.
Coutard originally planned to study chemistry, but switched to photography because of the cost of tuition. In 1945, Coutard was sent to participate in the French Indochina War; he lived in Vietnam for the next 11 years, working as a war photographer, eventually becoming a freelancer for Paris Match and Look. In 1956, he was approached to shoot a film by Pierre Schoendoerffer, 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).
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.
Coutard photographed nearly all of Godard's work in the Nouvelle Vague era (1959 - 1967), with the exception of Masculin, féminin; their last work during this period was Week-end (1967), which marked the end of Godard's work as a 'mainstream' filmmaker. The two did not work together again until Passion; their final collaboration was Godard's next feature, Prénom Carmen. ...
Source: Article "Raoul Coutard" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known for
CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel
Pierre Schoendoerffer, the Sentinel of Memory
Il était une fois... « Jules et Jim »
Godard, Love and Poetry
The Making of Rocky Road to Dublin
Wild Innocence
Nouvelle Vague : El cine sin dogmas
The Phantom Heart
Happiness Is No Joke
The Birth of Love
Bethune: The Making of a Hero
Chambre 12, Hôtel de Suède
Il gèle en enfer
Thick Skinned
Let Sleeping Cops Lie
Burning Beds
Blanc de Chine
Max My Love
The Bitch
Dangerous Moves
Salt on the Skin
First Name: Carmen
S.A.S. San Salvador
Godard's Passion
Operation Leopard
Drummer-Crab
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Like a Pot of Strawberries
A Pain in the Ass
The Hostage Gang
Five Leaf Clover
Embassy
The Hideout
The Most Gentle Confessions
La Liberté en croupe
The Bamboo Incident
The Confession
The Southern Star
Z
Rocky Road to Dublin
The Bride Wore Black
Weekend
La Chinoise
Horizon
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
Made in U.S.A
The Sailor from Gibraltar
The Defector
Pierrot le Fou
The Botanical Avatar of Mademoiselle Flora
The 317th Platoon
The Married Woman
Male Companion
The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers
Band of Outsiders
The Soft Skin
Contempt
Portuguese Vacation
The Carabineers
Like Two Drops of Water
The Little Soldier
The Doll
And Satan Calls the Turns
Vivre Sa Vie
Love at Twenty
Jules and Jim
Petit Jour
Chronicle of a Summer
A Woman Is a Woman
Lola
The Army Game
Breathless
The Devil's Pass
Island Fishermen
Ramuntcho
Cinépanorama