Raoul Coutard

Born in the French capital on September 16, 1924, Raoul Coutard served as a colonial infantry sergeant during the Indochina War. He then stayed in the area for a decade, as a war photographer, covering the Vietnam War for such prestigious publications as Paris-Match and Life.

The directors Pierre Schoendoerffer and Jacques Dupont offered him a move to the movies with The Devil’s Gorge , which took place in Afghanistan. He accepted the commission due to a misunderstanding, since he thought that he would take care of taking snapshots for the promotion of the film (still photo).

But the work that established him among moviegoers and critics was the emblematic At the End of the Escape , with which Jean-Luc Godard kicked off the Nouvelle Vague. “It was the decisive work of my career, and that the film seemed like it was going to be anything,” he declared.

He would repeat with the director in titles like Contempt , Pierrot el loco or Banda aparte . With another of the movement’s most prominent directors, François Truffaut , he shot Tirad sobre el pianista , Jules y Jim , and La novia vestido de negro , among others. For Jacques Demy he was in charge of lighting Lola . Throughout his career, he had time to put himself at the service of other emblematic international directors, such as the Japanese Nagisa Oshima , in Max, my love , and the Greek Costa-Gavras , in Z.