Скачать или смотреть Raoul Coutard - Jean-Luc Godard's 'sadistic' side (79/179)

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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: He needs to find it progressively, so... and he has the tendency to blame on the others the fact that he can't find it. Which is interesting, for example, it's good when you're married to blame all the problems you have on your wife.

[BC] I have friends who were assistants with him and who told me that they suffered a lot.

Yes, yes. No, no, we have to suffer with him. But I mean... if you take everything literally, you're unhappy, you shouldn't take it literally. No, no, that's for sure.

[BC] Isn't there with certain film directors, to talk more broadly, a sort of perversity, sometimes even unconscious, which means that being film directors they think, 'Ah, well, I'm going to do this or that' and they're not aware of it?

Yes, I don't think so. I think with Jean-Luc it's more that he has of a sort of sadistic side. I mean he has a certain tendency to think that we want to piss him off. I remember one time he told me, 'I would like to push the door but there's always an idiot that prevents me from opening it'. And actually, I think that's it, I think that he is under the impression that we want to prevent him from doing things. And so... therefore, since we want to prevent him from doing things, he's interested in annoying others. Sometimes, not all the time. Well, I mean it's... it's obvious that for assistants, that's always very, very difficult. Because the assistant... I mean, he hopes to be helpful for the director, be pleasant, be efficient, and when you work with Jean-Luc it's not definite that it'll be like that. I mean... so you're rolled in shit, it's... 'Do you know why I don't look at you anymore? Because I can't bear to look at you'.