Raoul Coutard

Born in Paris on September 24, 1924, Raoul Coutard took courses in a chemistry school, before working in a photography laboratory during the Second World War. It is in Indochina that he takes his first photographs, sent as a fighter between 1945 and 1948, then as a military photographer between 1950 and 1954. He meets Pierre Schoendoerffer on site and is appointed head of the photo service of the review South-East Asian Indochina: he will make connections there for the newspapers Radar, Life and Paris-Match. Than Le Pêcheur (1957) by the same Schoendoerffer, is his first film as a director of photography. The two men will continue their collaboration with La Passe du diable (1958), Ramuntcho (1959), Pêcheur d'Islande (1959) and La 317e section (1965) a few years later.

At the request of producer Georges de Beauregard, Raoul Coutard then went to work with Jean-Luc Godard for the production of A bout de souffle in 1960. The filming of the film looks more like that of a report: the camera is held in the hand and not on foot or on rails and everything is filmed in natural light. Godard never stopped calling on the director of photography to direct the light on his following films, from Le Petit Soldat (1961) to Week-end (1968). At that time, if many filmmakers preferred to shoot in black and white for convenience, Godard opted for color film. Raoul Coutard therefore encountered multiple technical problems, which he had to remedy. He was a pioneer in this sense, creating for each film a separate visual identity: shimmering tones for Le Mépris (1963), pictorial colors for Pierrot le Fou (1965) or even a chromatic formalism in “Pop Art” style for La Chinoise (1968). Alphaville, a strange adventure by Lemmy Caution, produced in black and white and as a tribute to film noir, has remained famous for the inventiveness shown by Coutard: the atmosphere of the film is bathed in rails of pale light and a very pronounced gray. In this film, the director of photography uses a large number of light sources. Signs, street lamps, car headlights, bulbs, lighter flames are the subject of special care ... the atmosphere of the film is bathed in rails of pale light and a very pronounced gray. In this film, the director of photography uses a large number of light sources. Signs, street lamps, car headlights, bulbs, lighter flames are the subject of special care ... the atmosphere of the film is bathed in rails of pale light and a very pronounced gray. In this film, the director of photography uses a large number of light sources. Signs, street lamps, car headlights, bulbs, lighter flames are the subject of special care ...

In the meantime, Coutard collaborated with François Truffaut on films such as Tirez sur le pianiste (1960), Jules et Jim (1961), La Peau Douce (1964) and La Mariée was en noir (1968). He also directs the photography on Lola (1961) by Jacques Demy, Vacances portugaises (1962) by Pierre Kast or Un Monsieur de Compagnie (1964) by Philippe de Broca… Finally, Costa-Gavras calls on his services for two of his greatest films, Z (1969) and (1970). After moving away from Godard the day after the events of May 68, Coutard reworked with the Franco-Swiss filmmaker on Passion (1982) and First Name Carmen (1983). He also shed light for several films by Philippe Garrel in the 90s: The Birth of Love (1993), The Phantom Heart (1996) and Sauvage Innocence (2001). For the cinematographer,

Raoul Coutard is considered today as the most important cinematographer of the whole New Wave. The procedures he implemented on A bout de souffle (the use of real light, the absence of artificial lighting, the permanent mobility of the camera, a very contrasted black and white and an almost systematic elimination des gris) have inspired a considerable number of filmmakers and photographers. He is said to be the inventor of modern light, one that frees itself from heavy studio lighting and the usual standard filters, one that uses sources of natural incandescence and light saturation as aesthetic biases. .

Coutard has also directed three films: Hoa-Binh (1970) on two young children during the Vietnam War, The Legion jumps on Kolwezi (1980), around a unit of paratroopers in military operation in Zaire, and SAS in San Salvador (1982), the story of a secret agent on a secret mission in San Salvador.

Author: Louis Daubresse

Raoul Coutard 's estimated Net Worth, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below.

Let's check, How Rich is Raoul Coutard in 2021 ?

Raoul Coutard Net Worth 2022

Raoul Coutard 's revenue is $ 1M in 2022. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Raoul Coutard and could vary in the range between $ 636.4K - $ 2M.

Raoul Coutard Net Worth 2021

Raoul Coutard 's revenue is $1.2M in 2021. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Raoul Coutard and could vary in the range between $725.6K - $1.9M.

Raoul Coutard Net Worth 2020

Raoul Coutard 's revenue is $1.4M in 2020. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Raoul Coutard and could vary in the range between $797.6K - $1.1M.

Raoul Coutard Net Worth 2019

Raoul Coutard 's revenue is $1.8M in 2019. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Raoul Coutard and could vary in the range between $702.2K - $1.9M.

Raoul Coutard Net Worth 2018

Raoul Coutard 's revenue is $1.6M in 2018. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Raoul Coutard and could vary in the range between $973.4K - $1.3M.

Raoul Coutard Net Worth 2017

Raoul Coutard 's revenue is $1.1M in 2017. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Raoul Coutard and could vary in the range between $593.6K - $2M.

Raoul Coutard Net Worth 2016

Raoul Coutard 's revenue is $1.9M in 2016. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Raoul Coutard and could vary in the range between $638.9K - $2M.

It is an overall forecast for the net worth of Raoul Coutard. The evaluation covers the latest 5 years and an approximation for next year. See above to learn how much money does Raoul Coutard makes a year.

The range above shows an estimation based on evaluation generated by public information about sponsorships or other sources found on the internet. It's summarized data from Raoul Coutard's projects existing in AidWiki's repository. It's an approximation of the revenue compiled by AidWiki and may not correspond with the real amount.