French cinematographer and filmmaker Bruno Nuytten (b. 1945) is a two-time César winner and BAFTA recipient for his highly praised work in French cinema from the 1970s until 2000. As a cinematographer, he worked on screen classics such as his debut feature “Les valseuses” (1974); he also made several films for prominent filmmakers André Téchiné and Claude Berri, and is probably best remembered for his work on Berri’s “Jean de Florette” and “Manon de sources” (both 1986), shot back-to-back over seven months, and at the time the most expensive French films ever made.

Both films were commercially and critically very successful in France and abroad, and were nominated for eight César Awards and ten BAFTA Awards. The success of the two films helped promote Provence as a tourist destination.

Later in his career, Mr. Nuytten directed a few films, including the acclaimed biopic “Camille Claudel” (1988), based on the French sculptor’s life, with Isabelle Adjani as the leading character. For her role, she was bestowed an Academy Award nomination as ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ (Jessica Tandy won for “Driving Miss Daisy”). Actor and composer Barnabé Nuytten, born in 1979, is their son.

Earlier this month, Mr. Nuytten was a member of the Director’s Week Competition Jury at the Brussels International Film Festival, where this interview was conducted in French.

Mr. Nuytten, when you see a film at the Festival, do you look at it as a cinematographer, a filmmaker, or a member of the audience?

I never look at it from a technical point of view. What interests me is the subject, the approach, the emotions, and how the director tells his story. So when I see a film, I consider myself a viewer, a member of the audience. If I start paying attention to the technical details, then the story doesn’t interest me too much. Take, for example, a film where everything is out of proportion or if I feel the director tries to manipulate me, that’s something I don’t like at all. A film should never do that; there has to be mutual trust between a filmmaker and his audience. That’s also what I had in mind when I made my films. You have to be honest and don’t try to please the audience. When you read a screenplay, you already sense if it’s going in the right direction.

A few years ago, your colleague Jan de Bont told me he was inspired by Rembrandt’s painting “The Night Watch” because of how Rembrandt used light and shadow. Do you recognize that comparison?

I do. Over the years, several painters have created des images fortes. Also, Flemish masters created a very warm atmosphere that was very interesting for films. For a long time, paintings were the first and only images you got to see as a child, and you could see how people lived then. They lived in little houses with small windows, and there was no electricity, so they depended on natural light. I was particularly interested in paintings from Flanders, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain. Artistically, they were an important part of my education. Yet, I don’t think it would be correct if a filmmaker or a director of cinematography would put himself on the same level as a painter because we all rely on inventions from Kodak, Gevaert, or Fuji. While those painters invented a way to capture an image—they began with a white canvas and created everything. We have several tools and they make things much easier for us. A painting, in a frame, tells a whole story; a film needs numerous frames to tell a story. And as a cinematographer, you collaborate with a director, you need to respect his views and insights, and very often, you don’t control your light sources. The sun is the main light source, and you can—or need—to adjust it if necessary. So it’s impossible to compare a painter like Rembrandt or Pieter Breugel the Elder with a filmmaker.

You began working in films right after the New Wave. Did it influence your early films?

Toutes les pommes étaient tombées. I worked with young filmmakers who debuted during that era, but it is impossible to imitate the cinema of Jean-Luc Godard, for example. It might have been easier to imitate François Truffaut. I was very inspired by the early German filmmakers who had influenced several top cinematographers in Hollywood; the film noir, for example, was derived from the pre-War German films that, lighting-wise, had invented everything. The only thing that was missing was color. German cinema of the 1920s and 1930s had introduced all the techniques that cinema needed, and they had copied it from the theater. So when I started working in films, I knew that, later on, nobody had come up with anything new. How could anyone say they invented something when others did it much better years before with limited means at their disposal? Also, cameras have a fascinating history of their own, and they reflect the invention of cinema, starting with the Lumière brothers [Auguste Lumière, Louis Lumière]. There have been so many people involved in the development of cameras, and we’re all indebted to those who gave us cameras that are very light and easy to handle. So we have to be very modest, remember where we came from and how many people contributed to the cameras we use now. And to get back to your question, when I began working in the late 1960s when the New Wave was still around, the film directors I worked with were cinephiles. They were very much aware of the history of filmmaking, and they didn’t want to make films similar to the typical New Wave films. No, they asked themselves what worked and didn’t work before the New Wave. So we had a different approach.

You made several films with André Téchiné. Was he one of your favorite film directors?

When we first met, he was a young filmmaker who admired the cinema of F.W. Murnau [1888-1931], a very influential director in German Expressionism who later went to the U.S. [he emigrated to Hollywood in 1926]. When we did “Barocco” [1976], André thought a lot of Murnau’s silent romantic drama “Sunrise” [1927, a.k.a. “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans”] and wanted to make a similar film. He was not very communicative, he didn’t say a lot, but I knew what he had in mind. And that’s what a cinematographer should do; he needs to understand—and sometimes obey—the film director and, through his cinematography, take the film to the next level. When the director sees the result, he should be surprised. That’s what I always tried to do, but I know it didn’t always work. Sometimes the result was the opposite [laughs]. But if it worked, it was a real joy. So we made films such as “Les soeurs Brontë” [1979] and “Hotel des Amériques” [1981]. Then one day I sensed that he wanted something else, preferred a handheld camera or different lighting, things like that. I told him, ‘André, I think our collaboration ends here because, in my opinion, you need another cinematographer.’ So we parted very amicably, and that was the right choice, especially considering he continued to make several great films—very different films without any reference to the history of filmmaking, but instead referring to his own style.

I suppose your collaboration with Claude Berri [1934-2009] was quite different because he was a producer, not a film director.

Yes, he was much more a producer than a film director. When we did “Tchao pantin” [1983], he gave me total freedom because he needed someone who did the work for him. Later he wanted me to work for him again when we did “Jean de Florette” and “Manon de Sources” [both 1986]. He asked me to write a short adaptation of Marcel Pagnol’s novel [“L’Eau des collines,” 1963], but he didn’t like the result; he thought it didn’t reflect the essence of the book. But it’s difficult to work with a film director who doesn’t direct. We remained friends, though it was impossible for me to work with him any longer. But I loved working on “Tchao pantin”; Claude Berri knew how to cast a film properly, but he had no idea how to shoot a scene. That didn’t interest him. I also worked a lot with Marguerite Duras [1914-1996]. That was totally different. She had no technical skills and never learned how to make a film; she was like a child that wanted to make a film, and she didn’t know the rules. That made it very interesting; you worked together to see what worked and how it would play out. For example, I shot a scene, and when I showed it to her, she reacted like a child that sees a movie for the first time. She thought everything was great, and that made our collaboration very productive. When we did “India Song” [1975], set in the 1930s and shot in Paris on a very tight budget, she simply told me, ‘Take me there, give me the impression that I am elsewhere.’ And that’s a very interesting challenge for a cinematographer; when the film came out, many people asked me, ‘In what part of India did you shoot that film?’ [Laughs.] And we shot it in an apartment in Paris and a mansion near Paris.

“India Song” (1975, trailer)

So if Marguerite Duras asks you to take her elsewhere, is that the essence or secret of what a cinematographer should do?

Yes. The mansion we used once belonged to the Rothschild family and was used by the Germans during World War 2. But the Rothschild family never lived there, so it was abandoned. I adjusted it and used filters when I shot the film. And lighting-wise, sometimes the sun can ruin everything. No light bulb is as powerful as the sun, so you have to work your way around it to create a different atmosphere, like using different filters or shooting your scenes at odd hours. But you have a shooting schedule that you must respect; you can’t always shoot during the magic hour [i.e. shortly after sunrise or before sunset]. When Roman Polanski did “Tess” [1979], he shot the entire film during the magic hour. He prepared his scenes all day long, and in the evening, he had twenty minutes to shoot his scenes before sunset. That gave his film a tremendous look, but it also cost a fortune. When you shoot a film, every minute is very expensive. So if you end up with three minutes of footage each day… Today many filmmakers work much faster; I don’t even think it would be possible to make “Tess” as they did it back then.

It’s interesting that you mention “Tess”; the film won an Academy Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography’ [YouTube clip]. One of the two cinematographers who worked on that film was Ghislain Cloquet [1924-1981]. He was your mentor, wasn’t he?

Absolutely, he was my friend, c’était aussi mon professeur. We were great friends. Not everybody liked him because he had a temper. But he was very funny, and I liked his humor a lot. I had been his assistant; when I became a cinematographer and a film of mine was released, he saw it and told me, ‘That was good’ or ‘You should have done it differently.’ But I didn’t like to be an assistant because then you only focus on the technique of shooting a scene and not on the art of your craft. But Ghislain was essential in my life. When Polanski did “Tess,” the British cinematographer he had hired [Geoffrey Unsworth] died after three weeks, and I know that Ghislan and I were on the list to replace him. Claude Berri, who also produced “Tess,” had told me that. But I was too young; Polanski wanted an experienced and well-known cinematographer. I remember studying at the INSAS [Institut national supérieur des arts du spectacle et techniques de diffusion] here in Brussels, where Ghislain suggested doing scenes from his films with other actors. That was very interesting; later, I also used that working method with my students and let them do scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” [1954]. It gave them hope because with many tricks and good ideas, an actor can recreate a scene, so they didn’t have to be impressed by those American films…

…which brings us to “Brubaker” [1980]. Can you tell something about your work on that film?

Americans are far better equipped than we are, that’s for sure, and another big difference between France and the U.S. are the unions. They are very powerful, most notably the Transport Workers Union, who drive the trucks from one place to another. Cinema is like a circus; many trucks are involved, and if the truck drivers are unsatisfied, they can easily disrupt a shooting schedule. The same with the technicians. They have three unions: one in New York that covers the East Coast, in Los Angeles for the West Coast, and in Chicago that covers the rest of the country. The Chicago union always wants a stand-by, meaning that a foreign cinematographer can work on a set only if an American cinematographer—a union member—will be there too. So there were two of us, but the American didn’t do anything and he had the same salary as I, which made it twice as expensive for the producer. But a foreign cinematographer is cheaper than a well-known American, which makes it interesting. The whole time, I had this charming elderly gentleman standing next to me who didn’t know what I was doing [laughs].

But he wasn’t looking over your shoulder or controlling you?

No, not at all. But what I was not allowed to do, was turn or hold the camera, for example. I could do rehearsals with the camera, but someone else from the union had to do that when we were shooting. I tried it once… grève générale [laughs].

“Jean de Florette” (1986, trailer)

One of your greatest achievements, I think, is that the landscape and the sky of the French region Provence never looked better than in “Jean de Florette” and “Manon de sources” [a.k.a. “Manon of the Spring”]. How did you do that?

In terms of lighting, it’s not a great region; it’s even pretty ugly. Like other areas near the Mediterranean, you have this blue haze. When you look at photographs or postcards of the French Riviera, you always see a beautiful blue sky, you have a great view, the sea looks great, and there are wonderful trees. But you don’t see the mistral wind that makes it very difficult to shoot a movie; there are days when the French Riviera looks like the French Riviera, and other days it looks pretty ugly. So “Jean de Florette” and “Manon de sources” were tough to shoot. The number of days when we could work there was very limited. It just wasn’t beautiful. You can put filters on your lens to adjust a few things, but other than that, the lighting there is not great when it is hot. When we were shooting in spring, it rained every day. In the film, the character of Jean de Florette hopes it will rain; well, we had rain every day [laughs]. We also had hardly any interior scenes, and, if I remember well, we planned to be there until December, but by the end of October, Claude Berri said, ‘This is impossible. Let’s all go to Paris, where we build the sets for the interior scenes and make it look like Provence.’ For any technician, it’s a real challenge to shoot a scene in Paris and give you the impression you’re in Provence. I didn’t like shooting in Provence, but I liked it in Paris.

What is, in your opinion, the main difference between shooting a scene on film and using a digital camera?

The big difference is that you see the result one or two days later when you shoot on film. The footage you shot kept its secrets until you saw the result a day or two later. If it didn’t look good, it was a catastrophe. You could not reshoot those scenes. When I began working in films, film was very sensible, and the camera couldn’t detect anything if the lights weren’t on; digital cameras can. So cinematographers now have to find a perfect balance to ensure the audience doesn’t see too much. But you can see the footage right away, which makes it much easier; the producer can see it at night when he’s in bed with his wife or on Sunday morning when he’s not working. The daily rushes have no secrets anymore. In the 1970s, the cast, crew, and technicians all came to see the rushes. It was a big moment for all of them.

Do you mean that, for a cinematographer, the magic is gone?

It’s not really gone, but the footage you shot on film—that was it. Now post-production offers a lot of possibilities; you can adjust the film in so many ways or use special effects wherever you want. You may get the impression that the work on a film set has become less important because you can upgrade all your footage during post-production. We were very restricted compared to what’s happening now. It’s a different working method now, but several cinematographers made a very successful transition from shooting on film to digital. I have restored many films now, including the ones I made. The original negatives were in terrible shape, even though they say Kodak footage will never disappear. That’s not the case. And even if the negatives were preserved in the best conditions, it’s never a guarantee. The films that survived are the ones that everybody knows because multiple new copies have been made repeatedly. The films d’auteur with only the negative and a few copies—the kind of films that I did most of the time—are very vulnerable. So when I’m restoring films, with all the possibilities we have now, you do have to respect the original film and not change anything—not change the color of the original, for example. You remove the scratches, things like that, but you need to be faithful to the original. Technically you can do anything when you’re restoring, but suppose the original film is underexposed, you don’t want to change that. I recently restored “Le Samouraï” [1967], directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. The only thing we had was the negative, which was in terrible shape—some portions were even missing. Luckily I had seen the film when it was released, but that is so long ago, and Melville is dead, the cinematographer [Henri Decaë] also passed away, so there is nobody you can turn to if you have any questions—and you always have.

You stopped working as a cinematographer and a director about twenty years ago. Do you still have any dreams that you didn’t fulfill?

No. I started working at a very young age and worked a lot. I was always working with a camera, images, film… Now I think, ‘Comment vivre en oubliant les images? Comment revenir dans la réalité?’ I spent my whole life in a world of fiction, that’s how I looked at the world around me. Fiction was my life, and I always captured it on camera. Now I can look at the blue sky and admire it without feeling the urge to take a photograph of it. There’s nothing wrong if you only remember the beautiful blue sky that you just saw. I don’t feel the need anymore to take out a camera the whole time. I also work at Le Fresnoy, an art school in Tourcoign [France] for young artists, and the school allows them to set up artistic projects. Seeing how those students develop their skills is very interesting and rewarding.

Brussels International Film Festival,
July 4, 2023

FILMS

LES VALSEUSES, a.k.a. GOING PLACES (1974) DIR Bertrand Blier PROD Paul Claudon SCR Bertrand Blier, Philippe Dumarçay (novel by Bertrand Blier) CAM Kenout Peltier ED Bruno Nuytten MUS Stéphane Grappelli CAST Gérard Depardieu, Miou-Miou, Patrick Dewaere, Jeanne Moreau, Isabelle Huppert, Brigitte Fossey, Christian Alers, Michel Peyrelon, Jacques Chailleux, Eva Damien, Dominique Davray, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte

LA FEMME DE GANGE (1974) DIR – SCR Marguerite Duras PROD Stéphane Tchalgadjieff CAM Bruno Nuytten, Ghislain Cloquet, Jean Mascolo MUS Carlos D’Alessio CAST Gérard Depardieu, Catherine Sellers, Dionys Mascolo, Christian Baltauss, Robert Bonneau, Rudolph Alepuz

L’ASSASSIN MUSICIEN, a.k.a. THE MUSICIAN KILLER (1975) DIR Benoît Jacques PROD Stéphane Tchalgadjieff SCR Benoît Jacques (novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Fanette Simonet CAST Anna Karina, Joel Blon, Philippe March, Hélène Coulomb, Gunars Larsens, Marc Terzieff, Frédéric Mitterand, Stéphane Tchalgadjieff

INDIA SONG (1975) DIR – SCR Marguerite Duras PROD Simon Damiani CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Solange Leprince MUS Carlos D’Alessio CAST Delphine Seyrig, Michael Lonsdale, Mathieu Carrière, Claude Mann, Vernon Dobtcheff, Didier Flamand, Claude Juan

SOUVENIRS D’EN FRANCE, a.k.a. FRENCH PROVINCIAL (1975) DIR André Téchiné PROD Véra Belmont SCR André Téchiné, Marilyn Goldon CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Anne-Marie Deshayes MUS Philippe Sarde CAST Jeanne Moreau, Marie-France Pisier, Michel Auclair, Orane Demazis, Claude Mann, Aran Stephan, Hélène Surgère

LES VÉCÉS ÉTAIENT FERMÉS DE L’INTÉRIEUR (1976) DIR Patrice Leconte PROD Alain Poiré SCR Patrice Leconte, Marcel Gotlib CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Catherine Kelber MUS Paul Misraki CAST Coluche, Jean Rochefort, Roland Dubillard, Danièle Evenou, Robert Berri, Billy Bourbon, Robert Dalban

LA MEILLEURE FAÇON DE MARCHER (1976) DIR Claude Miller PROD Jean Gontier SCR Claude Miller (adaptation by Claude Miller, Luc Béraud) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Jean-Bernard Bonis MUS Alain Jomy CAST Patrick Dewaere, Patrick Bouchitey, Christine Pascal, Claude Pieplu, Marc Chapiteau, Michel Blanc

SON NOM DE VENISE DANS CALCUTTA DÉSERT (1976) DIR Marguerite Duras PROD Pierre Barat, François Barat SCR Marguerite Duras (also play) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Geneviève Dufour MUS Carlos D’Alessio CAST Delphine Seyrig, Michael Lonsdale, Sylvie Nuytten, Marie-Pierre Thiebaut, Nicole Hiss

MON COUER EST ROUGE (1976) DIR – PROD – SCR Michèle Rosier CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Suzanne Baron MUS Keith Jarrett CAST Françoise Lebrun, Ghédalia Tazartès, Hermine Karagheuz, Jean-Pierre Bisson, Coralie Seyrig, Marie-Ange Farot, Lucia Bensasson, Danielle Jaeggi, Mai Zetterling

BAROCCO (1976) DIR André Téchiné PROD Alain Sarde, André Génovès SCR André Téchiné, Marilyn Goldin CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Claudine Merlin MUS Philippe Sarde CAST Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Marie-France Pisier, Jean-Claude Brialy, Julien Guiomar, Hélène Surgère, Derek de Lint, Claude Brasseur

LE CAMION (1977) DIR – SCR Marguerite Duras PROD Pierre Barat, François Barat CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Dominique Auvray CAST Marguerite Duras, Gérard Depardieu

L’EXERCICE DU POUVOIR (1977) DIR Philippe Galland PROD Michel Seydoux SCR Philippe Galland, Pascal Bonitzer (novel “L’Île aux pingouins” [1908] by Anatole France) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Martine Barraqué MUS Jean Morlier CAST Michel Aumont, Raymond Gérôme, Michèle Moretti, Henri Virlojeux, Ginette Garcin, Claire Nadeau, Françoise Vatel

LA NUIT, TOUS LES CHATS SONT GRIS, a.k.a. AT NIGHT ALL CATS ARE CRAZY (1977) DIR Gérard Zingg PROD Jean-Pierre Sammut SCR Gérard Zingg, Philippe Dumarçay CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Hélène Viard MUS Jean-Claude Vannier CAST Gérard Depardieu, Robert Stephens, Laura Betti, Charlotte Crow, Ann Zacharias, Virginie Thévenet, Dominique Laffin

LA TORTUE SUR LE DOS, a.k.a. LIKE A TURTLE ON ITS BACK (1978) DIR Luc Béraud PROD Luc Béraud, Hubert Niogret SCR Luc Béraud, Claude Miller CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Joële Van Effenterre MUS Maurice Jarre, Antoine Duhamel CAST Bernadette Lafont, Jean-François Stévenin, Virginie Thévenet, Sandy Whitelaw, Marion Game, Valérie Quennessen, Poussine Mercanton, Michel Blanc, Christian Clavier

ZOO ZÉRO (1979) DIR – SCR Alain Fleischer PROD Pierre Barat, François Barat CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Eric Pluet CAST Catherine Jourdan, Klaus Kinski, Pierre Clementi, Lisette Malidor, Rufus, Piéral, Alida Valli, Christine Chappey, Anthony Steffen, Jacky Belhassen, Fabien Belhassen

LES SOEURS BRONTË (1979) DIR – SCR André Téchiné PROD Yves Peyrot, Yves Gasser, Klaus Hellwig CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Claudine Merlin CAST Isabelle Adjani, Marie-France Pisier, Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory, Patrick Magee, Hélène Surgère, Roland Bertin, Alice Sapritch

FRENCH POSTCARDS (1979) DIR Willard Huyck PROD Gloria Katz SCR Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Carol Littleton MUS Lee Holdridge CAST Miles Chapin, Blanche Baker, David Marshall Grant, Valérie Quennessen, Debra Winger, Mandy Patinkin, Marie-France Pisier, Jean Rochefort, Anémone, Glorie Katz

BRUBAKER (1980) DIR Stuart Rosenberg PROD Ron Silverman SCR W.D. Richter (story by W.D. Richter, Arthur A. Ross; book “Accomplices to the Crime: “The Arkansas Prison Scandal” [1969] by Joe Hyams, Thomas O. Murton) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Robert Brown MUS Lalo Schifrin CAST Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Alexander, Murray Hamilton, David Keith, Morgan Freeman, Matt Clark, Tim McIntire, M. Emmet Walsh, Albert Salmi, Everett McGill, Val Avery

UN ASSASSIN QUI PASSE (1981) DIR – SCR Michel Vianey PROD Yves Gasser, Daniel Messère CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Armand Psenney, Sophie Cornu MUS Jean-Pierre Mas CAST Jean-Louis Trintignant, Carole Laure, Richard Berry, Féodor Atkine, Roland Bertin, Béatrice Camurat, Didier Flamand

POSSESSION (1981) DIR Andrzej Zulawski PROD Marie-Laure Reyre SCR Andrzej Zulawski (adaptation by Andrzej Zulawski, Frederic Tuten) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Suzanne Lang-Willar, Marie-Sophie Dubus MUS Andrzej Korzynski CAST Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent, Johanna Hofer, Carl Duering, Shaun Lawton

GARDE À VUE, a.k.a. THE INQUISITOR (1981) DIR Claude Miller PROD Georges Dancigers, Alexandre Mnouchkine SCR Claude Miller (novel “Brainwash” [1979] by John Wainwright; adaptation by Jean Herman) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Albert Jurgenson MUS Georges Delerue CAST Lino Ventura, Michel Serrault, Romy Schneider, Guy Marchand, Didier Agostini, Patrick Depeyrrat, Pierre Maguelon, Annie Miller

HÔTEL DES AMÉRIQUES (1981) DIR André Téchiné PROD Alain Sarde SCR André Téchiné, Gilles Taurand CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Claudine Merlin MUS Philippe Sarde CAST Catherine Deneuve, Patrick Dewaere, Etienne Chicot, Sabine Haudepin, Dominique Levanant, Josiane Balasko, François Perrot

INVITATION AU VOYAGE (1982) DIR Peter Del Monte PROD Mario Gallo, Claude Nedjar, Enzo Giulioli SCR Peter Del Monte, Franci Ferrini (novel “Moi ma soeur” [1976] by Jean Bany) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Agnès Guillemot MUS Gabriel Yared CAST Laurent Malet, Corinne Reynaud, Mario Adorf, Aurore Clément, Franca Maresa, Raymond Bussières, Robin Renucci

LA VIE EST UN ROMAN, a.k.a. LIFE IS A BED OF ROSES (1983) DIR Alain Resnais PROD Philippe Dussart SCR Jean Gruault CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Jean-Pierre Besnard, Albert Jurgenson MUS Philippe-Gérard CAST Vittorio Gassman, Ruggero Raimondi, Geraldine Chaplin, Fanny Ardant, André Dussollier, Sabine Azéma, Robert Manuel

TCHAO PANTIN (1983) DIR Claude Berri PROD Pierre Grunstein SCR Claude Berri (novel by Alain Page) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Hervé de Luze MUS Charlélie Couture CAST Coluche, Richard Anconina, Agnès Soral, Mahmoud Zemmouri, Philippe Léotard, Albert Dray, Mohamed Ben Smaïl

FORT SAGANNE (1984) DIR Alain Corneau PROD Samuel Bronston, Albina bu Boisrouvray SCR (novel “Fort Saganne” [1980] by Louis Gardel; adaptation by Alain Corneau, Louis Gardel, Henri de Turenne) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Robert Lawrence, Thierry Derocles MUS Philippe Sarde CAST Gérard Depardieu, Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Noiret, Sophie Marceau, Michel Duchaussoy, Roger Dumas, Jean-Louis Richard

LA PIRATE (1984) DIR – SCR Jacques Doillon PROD Olivier Lorsac CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Noëlle Boisson MUS Philippe Sarde CAST Jane Birkin, Maruschka Detmers, Philippe Léotard, Andrew Birkin, Laure Marsac, Michael Stevens, Didier Chambragne, Arsène Altmeyer

LES ENFANTS (1985) DIR Marguerite Duras PROD Frederic Vieille, Robert Pansard-Besson SCR Marguerite Duras, Jean Mascolo, Jean-Marc Turine (story “Ah! Ernesto!” by Marguerite Duras; adaptation by Marguerite Duras, Jean Mascolo, Jean-Marc Turine) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Françoise Belleville MUS Carlos D’Alessio CAST Axel Bogousslavsky, Daniel Gélin, Tatiana Moukhine, Martine Chevallier, André Dussollier, Pierre Arditi

DÉTECTIVE (1985) DIR Jean-Luc Godard PROD Alain Sarde, Christine Gozlan SCR Alain Sarde, Philippe Setbon (adaptation by Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Sarde, Philippe Setbon, Anne-Marie Miéville) CAM Bruno Nuytten, Pierre Novion, Louis Bihi ED Marilyne Dubreuil CAST Claude Brasseur, Nathalie Baye, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Aurelle Doazan, Emmanuelle Seigner, Julie Delpy

JEAN DE FLORETTE (1986) DIR Claude Berri SCR (novel “L’Eau des collines” [1963] by Marcel Pagnol; adaptation by Claude Berri, Gérard Bach) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Hervé de Luze, Noëlle Boisson, Sophie Coussein, Catherine Serris, Corinne Lazare, Arlette Langmann, Jeanne Kef MUS Jean-Claude Petit CAST Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu, Margarita Lozano, Ernestine Mazurowna

MANON DES SOURCES, a.k.a. MANON OF THE SPRING (19) DIR Claude Berri SCR (novel “L’Eau des collines” [1963] by Marcel Pagnol; adaptation by Claude Berri, Gérard Bach) CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Hervé de Luze, Geneviève Louveau MUS Jean-Claude Petit CAST Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Béart, Hippolyte Girardot, Margarita Lozano, Yvonne Gamy, Elisabeth Depardieu

DOUBLE MESSIEURS (1986) DIR Jean-François Stévenin PROD Bertrand Van Effenterre SCR Bruno Nuytten, Jean-François Stévenin, Jackie Berroyer CAM Pascal Marti ED Jean-François Stévenin, Yann Dedet, François Gédigier CAST Yves Afonso, Carole Bouquet, Jean-François Stévenin, Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko, Dominique Sampieri, Serge Valézy

CAMILLE CLAUDEL (1988) DIR Bruno Nuytten PROD Bernard Artigues SCR Bruno Nuytten, Marilyn Goldin (book by Reine-Marie Paris) CAM Pierre Lhomme ED Jeanne Kef, Joëlle Hache MUS Gabriel Yared CAST Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Madeleine Robinson, Laurent Grévill, Philippe Clévenot, Katrine Boorman, Maxime Leroux

ALBERT SOUFFRE (1992) DIR – SCR Bruno Nuytten PROD Alain Sarde, Albert Koski CAM Eric Gautier MUS Pixies CAST Julien Rassam, Estelle Skornik, Jean-Michel Portal, Collin Obomalayat, Kristen McMenamy, Joséphine Fresson, Jean-Pierre Bouchard, Dominique Marcas, Barnabé Nuytten

PASSIONNÉMENT (2000) DIR – SCR Bruno Nuytten PROD Jean-Louis Livi CAM Eric Gautier ED Dominique Auvray MUS Michel Portal, Richard Galliano CAST Gérard Lanvin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Eric Ruf, Tania Da Costa, Liliane Rovère, Catherine Sola, Laura Martens Correa, Bérénice Bejo