RAOUL COUTARD

(16 September 1924 - 8 November 2016)

The great French cinematographer Raoul Coutard was formerly a war photographer who served in the Indochina War and later worked in Vietnam as a news photographer for Time and Paris Match magazines. His streetwise way of filming with handheld cameras and natural light suited the film directors of the French Nouvelle Vague, so he often worked with the likes of Godard, Truffaut and Jacques Demy who wanted the look of simplicity in their work. Notable films that Coutard worked on – and there were over eighty of them spanning forty years from 1958 – include, for Godard: Breathless, Une Femme est une femme, Vivre sa vie, Le Petit soldat, Le Mépris, Bande à part, Alphaville, Pierrot le fou, La Chinoise, Weekend, Two or Three Things I Know About Her…. For Truffaut Coutard filmed Shoot the Pianist, Jules and Jim, La Peau douce, The Bride Wore Black; and for Demy he shot Lola. He also worked with Costa-Gavras, Tony Richardson, Édouard Molinaro, Jean Rouch, Nagisa Oshima and many other respected directors. His last film was Wild Innocence for Philippe Garel in 2001.

MICHAEL DARVELL