Raoul Coutard

Undoubtedly one of the most revolutionary cinematographers in the history of cinema (another one that comes into mind is the swedish master Sven Nykvist), Raoul Coutard played a fundamental role during the Nouvelle Vague period and after.

Coutard revolutioned the canons of film photography by reducing to the essential the lightning instrumentations on set, by adopting new camera lenses and by making a radically new use of the portable camera.

Coutard shot films such as the nouvelle vague milestone A Bout De Souffle (Breathless), Une Femme Est Une Femme, Tirez Sur Le Pianiste (Shoot The Piano Player), Jules Et Jim, Vivre Sa Vie, Le Mépris (Contempt), Bande à Part, Alphaville, Pierrot Le Fou and the thriller masterpiece Z by Costa-Gavras..(and many more).

To me, it looks like a truly memorable effort to the history of filmmaking.

Francois Truffaut, Le Dernier Métro (1980)