Page 32 - Fujifilm Exposure_14 Snatch_ok

feature in focus
THEIR SIXTH SENSE La Veuve de Saint-Pierre marks the latest collaboration between French director
F ollowing their work together on films
like The Hairdresser’s Husband, Le Parfum D’Yvonne and Tango, La
Veuve de Saint-Pierre now marks the sixth collaboration between French director Patrice Leconte and award- winning cinematographer Eduardo Serra AFC.
In between Serra, 56, has
also established fruitful part-
nerships with the likes of
V i n c e n t Wa r d ( M a p o f t h e
Human Heart, What Dreams
May Come), Michel Blanc
(Grosse Fat igue), Michael
Winterbottom (Jude) and
Peter Chelsom (Funny Bones), not to mention Iain Softley, whose The Wings Of The Dove earned the adopted Frenchman an Oscar nomination and BAFTA award for Best Cinematography.
His latest with Leconte is no less sweeping a peri- od tale of doomed romance than Softley’s film. Set in the mid 19th century on a remote and windswept French island off Canada, La Veuve de Saint-Pierre co- stars Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil and, making his acting debut, Yugoslav director Emir Kusturica.
“I delegate very little,” Leconte explains, “but I’ve worked with Eduardo so many times that we have this real understanding, so that in the space of a sec- ond we can communicate something. And it’s not that I want to control his work, it’s just very exciting to talk with him about it.
“The work you do with the cameraman rests on the simple question of where the light comes from. The same applies to the art director. And when you’re pas- sionate as I am about the sources of light, you also begin to make decisions about the height of the windows, and
how open the doors should be. That’s really exciting, too.”
Creating useable natural lighting to replicate candles or lamps in the interiors is some- thing any skilled cinematogra- pher will take in his stride. But the problems of matching scenes in a blustery, ever- changing climate outdoors sometimes drove even the expe- rienced Serra to distraction.
“There were two people pulling their hair out on this movie,” adds Leconte, “and that was Eduardo and our first assistant. Eduardo, because the continuity of lighting was very complicated sometimes. And for the assistant it was a real headache, because the
weather would change very quickly, so you would start a sequence that you wouldn’t be able to finish because the weather had changed.
“So we left behind us an increasing number of scenes that weren’t finished. And the more the shoot advanced, the closer the end got and it became more and more of a Chinese puzzle working out how we would do it all.
“In the end,” Leconte smiles, acknowledging Serra’s contribution, “I don’t know quite how, but we managed to finish the film on time.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
La Veuve de Saint-Pierre, currently on selected release, was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
Patrice Leconte and award-winning cinematographer Eduardo Serra AFC
Photos top inset: Juliette Binoche and Emir Kusturica in La Veuve De Saint-Pierre
Above from left: Cinematographer Eduardo Serra AFC (COURTESY JEAN MARIE LEROY/SYGMA); Director Patrice Leconte on the set; Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche in La Veuve De Saint-Pierre
EXPOSURE • 30