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Raoul Coutard
Raoul Coutard (16 September 1924 – 8 November 2016) was a French cinematographer. He is best known for his connection with the Nouvelle Vague period and particularly for his work with director Jean-Luc Godard. Coutard also shot films for New Wave director François Truffaut as well as Jacques Demy, a contemporary frequently associated with the movement. He shot over 75 films during a career that lasted nearly half a century. Biography Coutard originally planned to study chemistry, but switched to photography because of the cost of tuition. In 1945, Coutard was sent to participate in the French Indochina War; he lived in Vietnam for the next 11 years, working as a war photographer, eventually becoming a freelancer for ''Paris Match'' and '' Look''. In 1956, he was approached to shoot a film by Pierre Schoendoerffer, ''La Passe du Diable''. Coutard had never used a movie camera before, and reportedly agreed to the job because of a misunderstanding (he believed he was being hired ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, gastronomy, and science. For its leading role in the arts and sciences, as well as its very early system of street lighting, in the 19th century it became known as "the City of Light". Like London, prior to the Second World War, it was also sometimes called the capital of the world. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an estimated population of 12,262,544 in 2019, or about 19% of the population of France, making the region France's primate city. The Paris Region had a GDP of €739 billion ($743 billion) in 2019, which is the highest in Europe. According to the Economist Intelli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weekend (1967 Film)
''Weekend'' (french: Week-end) is a 1967 French postmodern black comedy film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard and starring Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne, both of whom were mainstream French TV stars. Jean-Pierre Léaud, comic star of numerous French New Wave films including Truffaut's ''The 400 Blows'' and Godard's earlier ''Masculin Féminin'', appeared in two roles. Raoul Coutard served as cinematographer; ''Weekend'' was his last collaboration with Godard for over a decade. Plot summary Roland and Corinne Durand are a bourgeois couple. Each has a secret lover and conspires to murder the other. They drive out to Corinne's parents' home in the country to secure her inheritance from her dying father, resolving to resort to murder if necessary. The trip becomes a chaotically picaresque journey through a French countryside populated by bizarre characters and punctuated by violent car accidents. After their own Facel-Vega is destroyed in a collision, they wander through a seri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bride Wore Black
''The Bride Wore Black'' (french: La Mariée était en noir) is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the novel of the same name by William Irish, a pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich. It stars Jeanne Moreau, Charles Denner, Alexandra Stewart, Michel Bouquet, Michael Lonsdale, Claude Rich and Jean-Claude Brialy. Costumes by Pierre Cardin. It is a revenge film in which a deranged widow murders the man who accidentally shot her husband on her wedding day, as well as his four friends. She wears only white, black or a combination of the two. Plot As the film opens, Julie Kohler ( Jeanne Moreau) tries to throw herself out of an upstairs window, but is stopped by her mother (Luce Fabiole). Julie is dressed in black and is obviously grief-stricken. In the next scene, she is more composed, telling her mother she is going on a long trip, and counting out five piles of money. She gets onto a train, but right afterwards steps down on the opposite side, hidden fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prenom Carmen
''First Name: Carmen'' (french: Prénom Carmen, links=no) is a 1983 French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Based loosely on Bizet's opera ''Carmen'', the film was written by Anne-Marie Miéville and produced by Alain Sarde, and stars Maruschka Detmers and Jacques Bonnaffé. The film won the Golden Lion at the 1983 Venice Film Festival and had 395,462 admissions in France. Plot Carmen, in a voice over paired with shots of the city and the sea, introduces herself as "the girl who should not be called Carmen." Somewhere a string quartet is rehearsing the late string quartets of Beethoven. The eccentric Jeannot (played by Godard) is living in a sanitarium where the doctor threatens to throw him out if he doesn't start to show signs of real illness. Carmen comes to visit him, and it is revealed he is a washed up filmmaker and her lecherous uncle. After getting her Uncle Jeannot to loan her his seaside apartment, Carmen and some others attempt to rob a bank. During the mayhem of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tracking Shot
A tracking shot is any shot where the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded. In cinematography, the term refers to a shot in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly that is then placed on rails – like a railroad track. As a result, this type of shot is often referred to as a dolly shot. A handheld steadycam or gimbal may also be used for smaller scale productions. The camera is then pushed along the track while the scene is being filmed or moved manually when using a handheld rig. The technique is often used to follow a subject that would otherwise leave the frame (ergo, it is often called a following shot), such as an actor or vehicle in motion. In this spirit, any conveyance, such as a motorized vehicle like a car, may also be used to create a tracking shot. A handheld or Steadicam mounted camera following a similar trajectory is called a tracking shot as well. While the core idea is that the camera moves parallel to its subjec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two Or Three Things I Know About Her
''Two or Three Things I Know About Her'' (french: Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle) is a 1967 French New Wave film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, one of three features he completed that year. As with the other two (''La Chinoise'' and '' Weekend''), it is considered both socially and stylistically radical. ''Village Voice'' critic Amy Taubin considers the film to be among the greatest achievements in filmmaking. Description The film does not tell a story so much as present an essay-like study of Godard's view of contemporary life; Godard wrote that "I wanted to include everything: sports, politics, even groceries. Everything should be put in a film." Godard narrates the film in a whispered voiceover in which he discusses his fears about the contemporary world, including those related to the Vietnam War. The film frequently cuts to various still shots of bright consumer products and ongoing construction. As with many of Godard's works, the film does not follow th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contempt (film)
''Contempt'' (french: Le Mépris, link=no) is a 1963 French New Wave drama film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, based on the 1954 Italian novel ''Il disprezzo'' (''A Ghost at Noon'') by Alberto Moravia. It stars Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, and Giorgia Moll. Plot Paul Javal, a young French playwright who has found commercial success in Rome, accepts an offer from vulgar American producer Jeremy Prokosch to rework the script for German director Fritz Lang's screen adaptation of the ''Odyssey''. Paul's wife, Camille Javal, joins him on the first day of the project at Cinecittà. As the first discussions are completed, Prokosch invites the crew to join him at his villa, offering Camille a ride in his two-seat sportscar. Camille looks to Paul to decline the offer, but he submissively withdraws to follow by taxi, leaving Camille and Prokosch alone. Paul does not catch up with them until 30 minutes later, explaining that he was delayed by a traffic accident. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Woman Is A Woman
''A Woman Is a Woman'' (french: Une femme est une femme) is a 1961 French Musical film, musical romantic comedy film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina and Jean-Claude Brialy. It is a tribute to American musical comedy and associated with the French New Wave. It is Godard's third feature film (the release of his second, ''Le petit soldat'', was delayed by censorship), and his first in color and Cinemascope. Plot The film centers on the relationship of exotic dancer Angéla and her lover Émile. Angéla wants to have a child, but Émile is not ready. Émile's best friend Alfred also says he loves Angéla, and keeps up a gentle pursuit. Angéla and Émile argue about the matter; at one point they decide not to speak to each other, so continue their argument by pulling books from the shelf and pointing to the titles. Since Émile stubbornly refuses her request for a child, Angéla finally decides to accept Alfred's plea and sleeps with him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Life To Live
''Vivre sa vie'' (french: Vivre sa vie: film en douze tableaux, lit=To Live Her Life: A Film in Twelve Scenes) is a 1962 French New Wave drama film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The film was released in the United States as ''My Life to Live'' and in the United Kingdom as ''It's My Life''. Plot Nana Kleinfrankenheim, a beautiful 22-year-old Parisian, leaves her husband Paul and her infant son, hoping to become an actress. The couple meet in a café and play pinball one last time before deciding to end their marriage. Now working in a record store, Nana struggles to earn enough money on her own. She tries to borrow 2,000 francs from several co-workers, but they all refuse. To make matters worse, Nana's landlady kicks her out of her apartment until she can pay rent. The next day, Nana meets with Paul, who gives her pictures of her son to keep for herself. Paul invites her to dinner, but Nana declines and explains she is seeing a film with another man. They watch ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hand-held Camera
Hand-held camera or hand-held shooting is a filmmaking and video production technique in which a camera is held in the camera operator's hands as opposed to being mounted on a tripod or other base. Hand-held cameras are used because they are conveniently sized for travel and because they allow greater freedom of motion during filming. Newsreel camera operators frequently gathered images using a hand-held camera. Virtually all modern video cameras are small enough for hand-held use, but many professional video cameras are designed specifically for hand-held use such as for electronic news-gathering (ENG), and electronic field production (EFP). Hand-held camera shots often result in a shaky image, unlike the stable image from a tripod-mounted camera. Purposeful use of this technique is called shaky camera and can be heightened by the camera operator during filming, or artificially simulated in post-production. To prevent shaky shots, a number of image stabilization technologies hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Chinoise
''La Chinoise, ou plutôt à la Chinoise: un film en train de se faire'' (English: ''The Chinese, or, rather, in the Chinese manner: a film in the making''), commonly referred to simply as ''La Chinoise'', is a 1967 French political film directed by Jean-Luc Godard about a group of young Maoist activists in Paris. ''La Chinoise'' is a loose adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1872 novel ''Demons''. In the novel, a group of five disaffected citizens, each representing a different ideological persuasion and personality type, conspire to overthrow the Russian imperial regime through a campaign of sustained revolutionary violence. The film, set in contemporary Paris and largely taking place in a small apartment, is structured as a series of personal and ideological dialogues dramatizing the interactions of five French university students—three young men and two young women—belonging to a radical Maoist group called the "Aden Arabie Cell" (named after the novel ''Aden, Arabie'' by Pau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
