Raoul Coutard
FilmmakerKnown for:
Pioneer of handheld French New Wave cinematography, primary cinematographer for Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut
Education:
Self-taught through 11 years as a military and freelance photographer in Indochina
Raoul Coutard was a French cinematographer who defined the visual language of the French New Wave. Before touching a movie camera, he spent over a decade as a combat photographer and photojournalist in Indochina, working for the French Army Press Service and contributing to Paris Match and Life. That documentary instinct carried directly into his fiction work with Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, where he pioneered handheld 35mm shooting, natural lighting, and improvised location techniques that broke completely with the polished studio conventions of the era. His innovations on Breathless (1960), using spliced-together rolls of Ilford still photography film in an Eclair Cameflex and shooting without permits on Paris streets, helped create modern independent cinema.
Raoul Coutard's Gear List(4)
Eclair
Product description
The Eclair Cameflex (also called the CM3) is a portable, shoulder-held 35mm motion picture camera designed by Jacques Mathot and André Coutant and introduced in 1947. It features a three-lens turret with reflex mirror shutter, variable speeds from 8 to 48 fps, and interchangeable magazines that can be swapped with the motor still running. Its lightweight, handheld design made it a key tool of the French New Wave, and it received an Academy Award in 1949.
Connection note
Primary camera for French New Wave work. Chosen because "its sprocket holes most closely matched Leica perforations" for the Ilford still film
ILFORD
Product description
High-speed panchromatic black-and-white film launched by Ilford in 1954 as "the fastest film in the world," initially rated at 400 ASA. Re-rated to 800 ASA in the 1960 speed revision. Jean-Luc Godard shot Alphaville (1965) on HPS using mostly available light.
Connection note
Still photography film adapted for motion picture use on Breathless. 18-metre lengths spliced to make 120-metre rolls. Pushed from 400 to 800 ASA. Producer said "the New Wave would have never existed without this ultra-sensitive film stock"
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Last updated March 20, 2026
