Raoul Coutard - The different actor direction techniques (106/179)
To listen to more of Raoul Coutard’s stories, go to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYde0bcy2eo&list=PLVV0r6CmEsFz94HTVkL-hi8sRSrIWv0iD French cinematographer Raoul Coutard (1924-2016) was originally a war photographer. He made his debut as a director of photography in the film 'La Passe du Diable' and became a leading figure in French New Wave cinema. [Listener: Bernard Cohn; date recorded: 2004] TRANSCRIPT: So on the other hand, he took part in the events of May 1968, and it's been said that he's the one that did the best documentary on May '68. So I said, 'But no one saw it'. But not because his things were stolen. Well, that's the legend. So in the end, he's quite pleasant during filming, but he's completely obsessed with his system. And on the other hand, on the last film he did a lot of rehearsals. And so every time he would say, 'It's not good, we're going to do it again'. So contrary to people like Truffaut, for example, who were... When he said it wasn't right, he would go see his actors, he would explain why, the moves, and I'd rather you took the cigarette out at that time rather than when you took it, and I don't know what else, and don't forget to close the meaning of the sentences etc., at the end, etc. So it always lasted a little while with François, because he was really directing the actors, why are we redoing it, in his mind something wasn't working. [BC] Of course. So as for him, it's true that he gives acting classes at the Conservatoire. [BC] Garrel? Yes. [BC] I didn't know. Yes, yes. And he said, 'It's not right, we're going to redo it'. So we redo it. It's not working at all, we redo it again. So he can do that 15 times and then say, 'That's fine, we'll film it, but above all don't do any better'. [BC] Don't you think that it's a way not of not knowing, but of putting himself in the situation of someone who wants to put others in difficult situations? No, I think he knows why it isn't working, but I think he doesn't want to express it. And it's obvious that the better haunts him. For example, I remember the last film that we did, he had hired one of his students from the school where he teaches. He was just a kid, he wanted to do better. So every time we were about to film, he had a skipping rope, so he skipped rope to get energised, in order to be explosive for the scene. He's hardly in the film because it's true that he was really... I mean, very different from the others. So it's true that it amused him, but he could have told him, 'No, listen...' Like when we were making 'Breathless', Jean-Luc had had problems with Jean Seberg, especially for the end scene, because she didn't really understand what we were doing. In fact, few people understood, even me, how he was sorting out his thing, why he was doing things that way. And the end scene, when... [BC] Belmondo's death. Yes, not exactly, but the moment when she comes back from the café where she handed him in, there's a scene that takes place in the club which was a photo studio, where we were filming around that light display. She wanted to act it in a very dramatic way because she had to tell him she handed him in, that he had to go, that she loved him, I don't know what, I don't remember the text. And she wanted to act it in a very dramatic way. And Jean-Luc wouldn't stop telling her, 'But no, you have to do it very flat', etc. And in the end, since they wouldn't stop arguing, he said, 'Well, it's all right', since it was going to be dubbed, either way, act it in a dramatic way. And when you watch the scene, if you look closely, we notice... It's completely flat, but we notice that her neck veins are swollen, that she has little veins meaning she had pulled out all the stops. So if you don't know... I mean, it's something you don't notice, it fits in with the cool side of the system.
To listen to more of Raoul Coutard’s stories, go to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYde0bcy2eo&list=PLVV0r6CmEsFz94HTVkL-hi8sRSrIWv0iD French cinematographer Raoul Coutard (1924-2016) was originally a war photographer. He made his debut as a director of photography in the film 'La Passe du Diable' and became a leading figure in French New Wave cinema. [Listener: Bernard Cohn; date recorded: 2004] TRANSCRIPT: So on the other hand, he took part in the events of May 1968, and it's been said that he's the one that did the best documentary on May '68. So I said, 'But no one saw it'. But not because his things were stolen. Well, that's the legend. So in the end, he's quite pleasant during filming, but he's completely obsessed with his system. And on the other hand, on the last film he did a lot of rehearsals. And so every time he would say, 'It's not good, we're going to do it again'. So contrary to people like Truffaut, for example, who were... When he said it wasn't right, he would go see his actors, he would explain why, the moves, and I'd rather you took the cigarette out at that time rather than when you took it, and I don't know what else, and don't forget to close the meaning of the sentences etc., at the end, etc. So it always lasted a little while with François, because he was really directing the actors, why are we redoing it, in his mind something wasn't working. [BC] Of course. So as for him, it's true that he gives acting classes at the Conservatoire. [BC] Garrel? Yes. [BC] I didn't know. Yes, yes. And he said, 'It's not right, we're going to redo it'. So we redo it. It's not working at all, we redo it again. So he can do that 15 times and then say, 'That's fine, we'll film it, but above all don't do any better'. [BC] Don't you think that it's a way not of not knowing, but of putting himself in the situation of someone who wants to put others in difficult situations? No, I think he knows why it isn't working, but I think he doesn't want to express it. And it's obvious that the better haunts him. For example, I remember the last film that we did, he had hired one of his students from the school where he teaches. He was just a kid, he wanted to do better. So every time we were about to film, he had a skipping rope, so he skipped rope to get energised, in order to be explosive for the scene. He's hardly in the film because it's true that he was really... I mean, very different from the others. So it's true that it amused him, but he could have told him, 'No, listen...' Like when we were making 'Breathless', Jean-Luc had had problems with Jean Seberg, especially for the end scene, because she didn't really understand what we were doing. In fact, few people understood, even me, how he was sorting out his thing, why he was doing things that way. And the end scene, when... [BC] Belmondo's death. Yes, not exactly, but the moment when she comes back from the café where she handed him in, there's a scene that takes place in the club which was a photo studio, where we were filming around that light display. She wanted to act it in a very dramatic way because she had to tell him she handed him in, that he had to go, that she loved him, I don't know what, I don't remember the text. And she wanted to act it in a very dramatic way. And Jean-Luc wouldn't stop telling her, 'But no, you have to do it very flat', etc. And in the end, since they wouldn't stop arguing, he said, 'Well, it's all right', since it was going to be dubbed, either way, act it in a dramatic way. And when you watch the scene, if you look closely, we notice... It's completely flat, but we notice that her neck veins are swollen, that she has little veins meaning she had pulled out all the stops. So if you don't know... I mean, it's something you don't notice, it fits in with the cool side of the system.