RAOUL COUTARD

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

#1: From interview [Web of Stories]

#2: 1962

RAOUL COUTARD

Born: 16 September 1924, Paris, France.

Career: 'I was born in Paris in the 4th arrondissement. My mother was a Parisian, and my father came from Mayenne. He worked as an accountant in the Pharmaceutical Company Roche. I never dreamed of working on a movie, I always wanted to be a chemist. I was enrolled in a chemist school, but due to financial reasons, I was not able to attend the classes and I was therefore transferred to studying photography. In 1945 I was engaged in an expedition in the Far East, where war was waged with the Japanese, after which we left for Indochina.' He worked as still ph in Vietnam for 11 years: 5½ years with the French Expeditionary Forces and 5½ years as a freelancer for the magazines 'Life', 'Paris Match', 'Indochine Sud-Est Asiatique' and 'Radar'. In 1953-54 he ph his first short doc in Laos for 'La section d'action psychologique' of the Ministry of Information. With Jean-Michel de Kermadec he made a doc on the city of Cholon [near Saigon].

Ph commercials dir by Edouard Molinaro, a.o.

His ph of 'A bout de souffle' is discussed in the book 'Reflections - Twenty-One Cinematographers at Work' by Benjamin Bergery.

Appeared in the doc's 'Cinéma de notre temps: La nouvelle vague par elle-même' [1964, André S. Labarthe & Robert Valey; 52m], 'Léaud l'unique' [2001, Diane Baratier; 59m] & 'Raoul Coutard: de Saigon à Hollywood' [2006, Matthieu Serveau; 58m].

Awards: As doph: Preis der deutschen Filmkritik [1961] for 'À bout de souffle' & 'Tirez sur le pianiste'; BAFTA Film Award nom [1968] for 'The Sailor from Gibraltar'; 'César' Award [1978] for 'Le crabe-tambour'; Cannes IFF 'Grand Prix Technique' from the CST [1982] & 'César' Award nom [1983] for 'Passion'; Venice FF 'Special Prize' [1983; shared] for 'Prénom Carmen'; 'Genie' Award nom [1991; shared] for 'Bethune: The Making of a Hero'; ASC International Award [1997]; Marburger Kamerapreis [2001]; 'Manaki Brothers' Film Camera Festival, Bitola, 'Golden Camera 300 for Lifetime Achievement' [2003].

As dir: Prix Jean Vigo [1970] & Cannes FF 'Best First Work' & 'Palme d'or' nom [1970] for 'Hoa-Binh'.

"Une femme est une femme" [1961]

'In writing about Raoul Coutard's work one should perhaps start by saying that there is no such thing as the typical Coutard 'look', since he shuns any particular style, preferring to adapt his images to suit each film and its director. Of course, definite Coutard trademarks - the hand-held camera, imaginative employment of natural light - spring to mind immediately one thinks of his name, but these are the tools with which an artist plies his trade and by themselves do not constitute an inimitable style (as anyone who saw some of the countless slavish imitations spawned in the wake of 'A bout de souffle' will testify - if they've recovered from the eye strain they suffered struggling to follow what looked like the adventures of a trampoline family on the dark side of the moon). All this is not to denigrate Coutard's many splendid achievements, the best of which are unforgettable; the harsh fluorescent hell of Alphaville; the vividly beautiful landscapes of Pierrot's worlds, both real and imaginary; the delicate, almost magical lighting for Lola's gentle fairy tale. In recent times, however, Coutard's credits have been limited to rather undistinguished commercial ventures. It would indeed be ironic if the cameraman whose name is synonymous with the 'Nouvelle Vague' of the early 60's should become a key member of the establishment in the 70's.' [David J. Badder in 'Film Dope', #8, October 1975.]

1963

'If François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard could be said to be the parents of French new wave cinema, Raoul Coutard was its midwife. He was director of photography on 17 Godard films, as well as four by Truffaut, and there is little doubt that the look of the nouvelle vague in the 1960s would have been very different without Coutard.

In 1956 Coutard, a 35-year-old veteran of the French Indo-Chinese conflict and a Paris Match war photographer, became a director of film photography without ever having held a movie camera. He was asked to "do the photos" for a French-Italian romantic adventure set in Afghanistan - 'La passe du diable', directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer. "I agreed," Coutard tells me when we meet in Paris, "but if I had known that the job was actually director of photography and that the film was to be in CinemaScope, I would never have said yes."

The link with Godard was forged in 1959 by another seminal figure of the new wave - Georges de Beauregard. The producer-godfather imposed Coutard on Godard, even though the director had already chosen someone else to be his director of photography on 'A bout de souffle'.

Given the apparent visual harmony with which Coutard and Godard later worked, it is hard to believe what an ill-matched couple they were to begin with. For one thing, as Coutard puts it: "Jean-Luc is a fascist of the left, and I am a fascist of the right. But I had an advantage. Jean-Luc said, 'We will shoot this film as if we were reporting a story.' And since I was a photo-journalist, that suited me."

After the film's success, Coutard found himself being passed around among other new wave directors. "The new wave was a Cahiers du Cinéma mafia," Coutard says, referring to the film magazine that spawned a generation of critics-turned-directors. "If you were not in the Cahiers, you didn't get a look in."

Truffaut then chose Coutard (in preference to the celebrated cinematographer Henri Decaë) for 'Tirez sur le pianiste'. However, says Coutard, for all the film's anarchic look and subject matter, he found Truffaut to be a traditional director. "He was very thrown by this new working method," he says. Godard, on the other hand, would work on a day-to-day basis, scribbling dialogue on a big jotter pad and dictating it to the actors.

Coutard learned early on how to handle Godard's notorious tantrums: "If you went to him with a problem while he was thinking through a scene, he would fly into a terrible rage. So you waited until he was idle. With cameramen and directors, the problem is always one of communication. When you arrive, the director has already been working on the scenario - perhaps for months. He has his own vision , then you arrive with your vision."

After finishing 'Week End' in 1967, Godard made a dramatic announcement. "Jean-Luc rang and asked me to come over," Coutard says. "When I arrived at his apartment, he said to me, 'I've had a revelation. I am a Marxist-Leninist so I can no longer make films with capitalist money.' Actually, it is the leftists who rip you off. If you want to get paid, you work for a good capitalist company, like Gaumont, which we did."

For the next decade Godard worked on the margins of cinema. Then, in 1981, he and Coutard were back working together again, on the film 'Passion'. This was followed by 'Prénom Carmen' in 1983.

Shortly after this, the partnership ended, for good, because of a banal dispute. In 1985 Godard's new partner, film-maker Anne-Marie Miéville, rang Coutard and asked if he would take over as cinematographer on her new film; she had fired her director of photography. Coutard agreed, but said that since being fired was such a humiliating experience, as a matter of courtesy he would like first to talk to the dismissed cameraman to hear his side of the story - could he have a contact number? The information was refused and Coutard turned down the job, on principle.

Some months later, Godard rang inviting him to be director of photography on his next film, 'Détective'. Coutard agreed and was told to make contact with the office of the producer. But when Coutard rang, the office mysteriously claimed that nothing was known about his engagement and they refused to return his calls. One of the script writers was Anne-Marie Miéville. And that was the end of a historic association - one of the treasures of French cinema.' [From article by Peter Lennon in 'The Guardian', 9 June 2001.]

FEATURE FILMS
1956	La passe du diable/The Devil's Pass [Jacques Dupont & Pierre Schoendoerffer] cs/c
1958	Ramuntcho [Pierre Schoendoerffer] c
1958	Pêcheur d'islande/Island Fishermen [Pierre Schoendoerffer] ds/c
1959	A bout de souffle/Breathless [Jean-Luc Godard] b&w
1959	Tirez sur le pianiste/Shoot the Piano Player/Shoot the Pianist [François Truffaut] ds/b&w
1960	Les grandes personnes/Time Out for Love [Jean Valère] b&w
1960	Lola [Jacques Demy] fs/b&w

"Le petit soldat"

1960	Le petit soldat/The Little Soldier [Jean-Luc Godard] b&w; released in 1963
1961	Jules et Jim/Jules and Jim [François Truffaut] fs/b&w
1961	Une femme est une femme/A Woman Is a Woman [Jean-Luc Godard] fs/c
1961	Tire au flanc/The Army Game/The Sad Sack [Claude de Givray; superv by François Truffaut] fs/b&w; + small part
1961	L'amour à vingt ans/Love at Twenty [seg 'Antoine et Colette' dir by François Truffaut] fs/b&w; 5 seg; other ph: Mario Montuori, Wolf Wirth, Shigeo Hayashida & Jerzy Lipman
1962	Vivre sa vie [: Film en douze tableaux]/My Life to Live [Jean-Luc Godard] b&w
1962	Et Satan conduit le bal.../And Satan Calls the Turns/Satan Leads the Dance [Grisha M. Dabat] b&w
1962	La poupée/The Doll/He, She or It! [Jacques Baratier] fs/c
1962	Als twee druppels water/De donkere kamer van Damocles/The Spitting Image/Inconnu aux services secrets [Fons Rademakers] fs/b&w
1962	Les carabiniers/The Riflemen [Jean-Luc Godard] b&w
1963	Les plus belles escroqueries du monde/The Beautiful Swindlers [seg 'Le grand escroc' dir by Jean-Luc Godard] fs/b&w; 4 seg (seg by Godard was cut from the film and shown separately); other ph: Jean Rabier, Tonino Delli Colli, Jerzy Lipman & Asakazu Nakai

L: "Le mépris" [with spoken credits]

R: [Right] Raoul Coutard

1963	Le mépris/Il disprezzo/Contempt [Jean-Luc Godard] fs/c; + small part
1963	La difficulté d'être infidèle/Bonne à tout faire [Bernard Toublanc-Michel] b&w
1963	Les baisers [Charles L. Bitsch, Bertrand Tavernier, Claude Berri, Jean-François Hauduroy & Bernard Toublanc-Michel] b&w; 5 seg
1963	La peau douce/The Soft Skin [François Truffaut] b&w
1964	Bande à part/Band of Outsiders [Jean-Luc Godard] b&w
1964	Une femme mariée [: Suite de fragments d'un film tourné en 1964]/A Married Woman [Jean-Luc Godard] b&w
1964	Un monsieur de compagnie/Male Companion [Philippe de Broca] c
1964	La 317e section/The 317th Platoon [Pierre Schoendoerffer] b&w
1965	Alphaville [ou une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution] [Jean-Luc Godard] b&w
1965	Je vous salue, Mafia/Hail, Mafia [Raoul Lévy] b&w
1965	Pierrot le fou/Crazy Pete [Jean-Luc Godard] ts/c
1965	The Sailor from Gibraltar [Tony Richardson] b&w
1966	The Defector/L'espion [Raoul Lévy] c
1966	Made in U.S.A. [Jean-Luc Godard] ts/c

With dir Jean-Luc Godard [left] - "Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle"

1966	Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle/Two or Three Things I Know About Her [Jean-Luc Godard] ts/c
1967	La chinoise [ou plutôt à la chinoise] [Jean-Luc Godard] c
1967	L'horizon [Jacques Rouffio] c
1967	La mariée était en noir/The Bride Wore Black [François Truffaut] c
1967	Week End [Jean-Luc Godard] c
1968	The Southern Star/L'étoile du sud [Sidney Hayers] ts/c

With dir Costa-Gavras [right] - "Z"

1968	Z [Costa-Gavras] c; + small part
1969	L'aveu/The Confession [Costa-Gavras] c; + small part
1970	Êtes-vous fiancée à un marin grec ou à un pilote de ligne? [Jean Aurel] c
1970	La liberté en croupe [Edouard Molinaro] c
1970	L'explosion/The Hideout/Sex Explosion [Marc Simenon] c; + small part
1970	Les aveux les plus doux/The Most Gentle Confessions [Edouard Molinaro] c
1971	The Jerusalem File/Jerusalem, Jerusalem [John Flynn] c; addph: Brian Probyn
1971	Embassy/Target: Embassy [Gordon Hessler] c
1972	Le trèfle à cinq feuilles/Five Leaf Clover [Edmond Freess] c
1972	Le gang des otages/The Hostage Gang/The Hostages [Edouard Molinaro] c
1973	L'emmerdeur/Allez-vous perdre ailleurs/A Pain in the A... [Edouard Molinaro] c
*1973*	Voulez-vous tuer avec moi? [Michel Audiard] ?
1974	Comme un pot de fraises!/Like a Pot of Strawberries [Jean Aurel] c
1977	Le crabe-tambour/Drummer-Crab [Pierre Schoendoerffer] c
1979	Tout dépend des filles.../All Depends on Girls [Pierre Fabre] c; tech adv; ph: Alain Masseron
1981	Passion/Godard's Passion [Jean-Luc Godard] c
1982	Flash-back/Un jour ou l'autre [Olivier Nolin] c
1983	Prénom Carmen/First Name: Carmen [Jean-Luc Godard] c; cph: Jean-Bernard Menoud
1983	La diagonale du fou/Dangerous Moves [Richard Dembo] c
1983	La garce [Christine Pascal] c
1984	Du sel sur la peau [Jean-Marie Degèsves] c
*1985*	Un secret dans la tête [Olivier Nolin] status unknown
1985	Max, mon amour/Max My Love [Nagisa Oshima] p/c
1986	Fuegos [Alfredo Arias] c
1987	Bethune: The Making of a Hero/Dr. Bethune [Phillip Borsos] c; cph: Mike Molloy; loc shooting China (April-August); shooting continued in March 1988
1987	Blanc de Chine/Chinese White [Denys Granier-Deferre] c
1987	Brennende Betten/Burning Beds [Pia Frankenberg] c
1988	Ne réveillez pas un flic qui dort/Let Sleeping Cops Lie/Never Wake a Cop [José Pinheiro] c
1988	Peaux de vaches/Thick Skinned [Patricia Mazuy] c; uncred
1989	Il gèle en enfer [Jean-Pierre Mocky] c
1990	La femme fardée [José Pinheiro] c
1990	Les enfants volants/The Flying Children [Guillaume Nicloux] c; cph: Jean Badal
1992	La vie crevée/Punctured Life [Guillaume Nicloux] c
1993	La naissance de l'amour/The Birth of Love [Philippe Garrel] b&w; cph: André Clément
1993	Faut pas rire du bonheur/Happiness Is No Joke [Guillaume Nicloux] c
*1993*	Le crime du Padre Amaro [Olivier Nolin] status unknown
1994	Le géographe Manuel [Michel Sumpf] b&w/silent (1st part) & c/sound (2nd part); cph: Denis Lenoir, William Lubtchansky, Pascal Marti, Jacques Loiseleux, Dominique Chapuis, Agnès Godard, Renato Berta, Romain Winding, a.o.
1995	Le coeur fantôme/The Phantom Heart [Philippe Garrel] c; cph: Jacques Loiseleux
2001	Sauvage innocence/Wild Innocence [Philippe Garrel] s35/b&w

SHORTS, DOCUMENTARIES & TELEVISION
1956	Paradiso terrestre/Earthly Paradise/Ritual of Love [Luciano Emmer & Robert Enrico] 16mm/c; doc/87m; cph: ?
1957	Than le pêcheur [Pierre Schoendoerffer] c; short/26m
1959	Ne tuez pas votre enfant [?] ?; short/?m
1959	Nicky et Kitty [André Mercier] ?; doc/13m
1959	Doit-on les punir? [Henri Calef] ?; doc/22m; cph: G. Raulet
1960	La chute [?] ?
1960	Petit jour [Jacques Pierre] b&w; mus short/16m; cph: Guy Suzuki
1960	Chronique d'un été/Chronicle of a Summer [: Paris, 1960] [Jean Rouch & Edgar Morin] b&w; doc/85m; cph: Roger Morillière, Jean-Jacques Tarbès & Michel Brault
1960	Bourdelle, sculpteur monumental [Albert Navarra] 16mm/b&w; doc/18m; cph: Claude Beausoleil
1960	Singal, l'antilope sacrée [Raoul Coutard] ?; short/?m
1962	Vacances portugaises/Les égarements/Portuguese Vacation/Les sourires de la destinée [Pierre Kast] b&w; short/57m
1964	L'avatar botanique de Mlle. Flora [Jeanne Barbillon] ?; short/14m
1964	Les voix d'Orly [Robert Lachenay] ?; exp short/8m
1965	Scruggs/A Game Called Scruggs [David Hart] b&w; short/54m; uncred cph: David Muir

[From reportage] - [Left] with Louis Guilbert - "Riom le beau"

1966	Riom le beau [Louis Guilbert] ?; doc/10m
1967	Tu es danse et vertige [Raoul Coutard] ?; short/?m
1967	Vive eau [Louis Roger] c; doc/13m
1968	Au péril de la mer [Louis Roger] c; doc/13m

1968	Rocky Road to Dublin [Peter Lennon] 16mm/b&w-c; doc/70m
1968	Concerto Brandebourgeois [François Reichenbach] c; mus short/12m; cph: F. Reichenbach
1970	Eici, l'aigo es d'or [Louis Guilbert] c; short/417mtr
1970	Jolly Green [Raoul Coutard] ?; doc/40m
1974	Le mouvement des eaux [Louis Guilbert & Jacques Rouxel] ?; doc/?m
1977	[Le défilé du] 14 juillet [Raoul Coutard] 16mm/c; doc/13m
1985	Parachute [Sabine Eckhard] b&w; short/13m
1985	Diabolique [Frédéric Schoendoerffer] cs/c; short/?m
1988	La piste aux étoiles [Guillaume Nicloux] ?; short/?m
1990	Nachbarschaft [Sabine Eckhard] c; short/9m
1990	Kaffeeklatsch [Sabine Eckhard] c; short/15m
1991	Maigret et les plaisirs de la nuit [José Pinheiro] tvm; ep of 'Maigret'-series
1991	Something's Wrong with You [Roger Walter] c; short/11m
1996	Jeden Tag Weihnachten/Chaque jour est Noël [Miko Zeuschner] c; student film/37m

FILMS AS DIRECTOR
1960	Singal, l'antilope sacrée [short; + ph] see Shorts etc.
1967	Tu es danse et vertige [short; + ph] see Shorts etc.
1969	Hoa-Binh/The Bamboo Incident [feature; + scrpl] ph: Georges Liron
1970	Jolly Green [doc; + ph] see Shorts etc.
1974	Une nuit en Lorraine [tvm/?m] ph: ?
1975	La ville étranglée [co-d: Jean Larteguy; tv-doc/?m] ph: ?
1976	La marche verte [doc/?m] ph: ?
1976	Les deux pieds sur terre [tv-doc/?m] ph: ?
1977	[Le défilé du] 14 juillet [doc; + ph] see Shorts etc.
1977	L'adjudant Chef X [tv] ph: ?
1979	La légion saute sur Kolwezi/Military Coup in Kolwezi/Operation Leopard [feature] ph: Georges Liron

1982

S.A.S. à San Salvador/SAS Malko - "Terminate with Extreme Prejudice" [feature] ph: Georges Liron

IEC