Éric Gautier (born 2 April 1961) is a French cinematographer. He has received numerous accolades for his work, including a César Award for Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train and an Independent Spirit Award for The Motorcycle Diaries.
Early life Gautier was born and raised in Paris. He grew up in its eleventh, twelfth, nineteenth and twentieth arrondissements with his construction engineer father, mother, and younger sister. During his youth he excelled in music, and from the age of eleven played the piano and organ. He originally aspired to become a professional musician before becoming disillusioned with the field and deciding to pursue a career in cinema instead, which he felt combined many different creative pursuits. He attended the film school of the Louis Lumière College.
Career After graduating from the in 1982, Gautier began work as an assistant camera operator director on Alain Resnais's film Life Is a Bed of Roses. He left the job soon after, however, and chose instead to work as the director of photography on short films. He shot 60 films before returning to feature film work. The first feature-length film he photographed was La Vie des morts, released in 1991 and directed by Arnaud Desplechin. He won a César Award for his cinematography on Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998), and received nominations for his work on Sentimental Destinies (2000), Clean (2004), Gabrielle (2005), Private Fears in Public Places (2006), and A Christmas Tale (2008). He has worked on many other French films, collaborating most often with Resnais and the directors Olivier Assayas, Arnaud Desplechin, and Claude Berri.
Gautier began working in the international film in the early 2000s, beginning with The Motorcycle Diaries, for which he won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography and the 2004 Cannes Film Festival Technical Grand Prize, and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography. After seeing The Motorcycle Diaries, American actor/filmmaker Sean Penn approached Gautier to shoot the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he won a Lumière Award. He subsequently served as director of photography on the American films Taking Woodstock (2009) and Grace of Monaco (2014).
Filmography
Film Year Title Director Note1991La Vie des mortsArnaud Desplechin1994The Favourite SonNicole Garcia1995One Hundred and One NightsAgnès Varda1996Irma VepOlivier Assayas1996Tykho MoonEnki Bilal1998Those Who Love Me Can Take the TrainPatrice ChéreauCésar Award for Best Cinematography1999Pola XLeos Carax2000Esther KahnArnaud Desplechin2001IntimacyPatrice Chéreau2001Brief CrossingCatherine Breillat2001Savage SoulsRaúl Ruiz2003His BrotherPatrice Chéreau2004The Motorcycle DiariesWalter SallesIndependent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography 2004CleanOlivier Assayas2004Kings and Queen Arnaud Desplechin2006Paris, Je T’AimeWalter Salles and Daniela Thomas; Olivier AssayasSegments, "Loin du 16ème", "Quartier des Enfants Rouges"2006NoiseOlivier AssayasDocumentary2006A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Dito Montiel2006Quelques veuves de NoirmoutierAgnès VardaDocumentary2006Private Fears in Public Places Alain Resnais2007Into the WildSean Penn2008Summer HoursOlivier Assayas2008A Christmas TaleArnaud Desplechin2009Wild GrassAlain Resnais2009Taking WoodstockAng Lee2010MiralJulian Schnabel2012On the RoadWalter Salles2012You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet Alain Resnais2012Something in the AirOlivier Assayas2014Grace of MonacoOlivier Dahan2015Hitchcock/TruffautKent JonesCo-cinematographer with five others2015AlohaCameron Crowe2015Rabin, the Last DayAmos GitaiDocudrama2017The Elephant and the ButterflyAmélie van Elmbt2017The MercyJames Marsh2018The ApparitionXavier Giannoli2018Ash is Purest WhiteJia Zhangke2018A Tramway in JerusalemAmos Gitai2019The TruthHirokazu Koreeda2022Both Sides of the BladeClaire DenisStars at NoonClaire Denis
Short films Year Title Director Note1997Sans TitreLeos Carax2014Incident UrbainJohn Lalor
Television Year Title Director Note1994Personne ne m'aimeMarion VernouxTelevision film1994Travolta and MePatricia MazuyTelevision film Part of the "All the Boys and Girls of Their Age" anthology
Personal life Gautier was married until 1995, when his wife Valentine died from cancer at the age of 32. His current partner is Nathalie Boutefeu, an actress with whom he has two daughters, Suzanne and Angela.
References
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