Tribute to Yves Rodallec, Lautner’s irreplaceable cameraman
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The director of photography, who held the camera in The Tontons gunslingers, died on August 14 at the age of 87. During his career, he worked with Jean-Pierre Mocky, Joseph Losey, Luigi Comencini, Sydney Pollack, Robert Wise… and thirty times with his friend Georges Lautner.
The framing, the light or dark image, cinema photography was his passion. yves rodallecthe favorite cameraman of George Lautnerthe man holding the camera in The Tontons gunslingers and in about thirty other films of his director friend died on August 14th. His wife Susan had the delicacy to send these few words to the editorial staff of the Figarowith whom her husband had a beautiful relationship of trust and friendship, to announce the bad news: “We are very sad to tell you that Yves left us on August 14th.“.
Clever, always on the lookout for a find to obtain the most astonishing lighting, the most “fitting” with the scenario and the scene to be immortalized, Yves Rodallec, modest in life, was able to talk for hours with a lot of verve in his profession. Michael Audiard, who often worked with him, perfectly summed up in one stroke the qualities of this prince of cinematographic light. On one of his novels, he will have written this dedication to him:For Yves Rodallec, who sees as I speak, often a little better“.
Read alsoBelmondo: Lautner’s favorite cameraman recounts the zipline stunt in Flic ou voyou
In almost half a century of career Yves Rodallec will have worked with the greatest filmmakers in all light positions: cameraman, first assistant operator and director of photography. Among all these names, we can mention: Robert Wise (Brief encounter in Paris in 1973), Jean-Pierre Mocky (The Great Laundry! in 1968), Sydney Pollack (Bobby Deerfield, with Al Pacino, in 1977), Joseph Losey (Trout in 1983) and Luigi Comencini (Bohemian in 1988).
But it was with Georges Lautner and his master Maurice Fellous that Yves Rodallec was able to give free rein to his fulgurances. Two memories were particularly dear to him. On location shooting of a scene from Pasha filmed at the exit of the La Calavados restaurant near the Champs-Élysées, he had used a car headlight to illuminate Jean Gabin and Dany Carrel at night. “It was the best way, he saidto make the shop windows shine and to reflect the image of the two actors in these street mirrors.»
Rodallec was “as frosty” as Belmondo
Lautner was particularly fond of all these inventions, “these special effects”. He will give him carte blanche to record on film the famous Belmondo zipline descent in Cops and robbers. Rodallec took a week to set up the filming of this spectacular scene with Alain Belmondo, the brother of the daredevil. In order to be able to frame “Bébel” in close-up, the cameraman designed a “cardanic” gondola in which, camera in hand, he would follow the actor. Faced with this crazy idea, that is to say, to see his star and his cameraman descend at 50km / h at the end of a wire, Lautner belched: “This Rodallec really is as frosty as Belmondo“. A flowery epithet that Rodallec, the crazy cameraman, of course took for the most beautiful of compliments.
Yves Rodallec descended the zip line next to Belmondo in Cops and robbers to be able to film the actor-stuntman in close-up
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