Charles Bitsch (born Louis Charles Bitsch; 23 April 1931 – 27 May 2016) was a French cinematographer, assistant director, film critic, and film director. A member of the Cahiers du cinéma circle in the 1950s, he worked as cinematographer and assistant director on early films of the French New Wave, collaborating extensively with Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, and Jean-Pierre Melville. He directed one theatrical feature, the post-apocalyptic Le Dernier Homme (1969).
Biography
Bitsch was born in Mulhouse in 1931 and moved to Paris with his family in 1934. He studied at the École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière from 1951 to 1953, training as a director of photography.
He became involved with the Cahiers du cinéma group through the ciné-club Objectif 49, where he met François Truffaut and Jacques Rivette. He published his first article for the journal in 1955 and contributed reviews, bio-filmographies, and interviews over the following years, notably conducting interviews with Orson Welles (with André Bazin), Nicholas Ray, Vincente Minnelli, and Anthony Mann. He also wrote for the magazine Arts, occasionally under the pseudonym Louis Chabert.
As cinematographer, he shot Rivette's Le Coup du berger (1956), which he co-wrote, and Paris nous appartient (1961), as well as Éric Rohmer's short Véronique et son cancre (1958). As assistant director, he worked on Chabrol's Le Beau Serge (1958), Les Bonnes Femmes (1960), and Landru (1962), and on Melville's Le Doulos (1962).
His longest professional association was with Godard, for whom he served as assistant director on Vivre sa vie (1962), Les Carabiniers (1963), Le Mépris (1963), Alphaville (1965), Made in U.S.A. (1966), 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (1967), and La Chinoise (1967), among others. For Alphaville, Bitsch wrote a thirty-page treatment that Godard submitted to financiers without reading. He also located the Villa Malaparte on Capri for the filming of Le Mépris and negotiated access to the site. Writing in Cahiers du cinéma after Bitsch's death, Alain Bergala described him as the person on whom Godard had always known he could rely, at whatever post was needed.
His sole theatrical feature, Le Dernier Homme (1969), was a science fiction film set in an underground bunker after a global catastrophe, photographed by Pierre Lhomme. Financed with a loan from Godard's production company Anouchka Films and additional funds from Philippe de Broca, the film won the grand prize at the Festival of Trieste but was not a commercial success. From the mid-1970s he worked primarily in French television, directing TV films and episodes of series including Pause-café (1989).
Bitsch died on 27 May 2016 in Villejuif, aged 85.
Filmography
As director Year Title Notes 1963 Les Baisers segment "Cher baiser" 1964 La Chance et l'amour segment "Lucky la chance" 1969 Le Dernier Homme feature film 1981 Le Marteau-piqueur television film 1985 L'Homme des couloirs television film 1989 Pause-café pause-tendresse television series 1994 Le Bel Horizon television film
As cinematographer Year Title Director 1952 Le Divertissement Jacques Rivette 1956 Le Coup du berger Jacques Rivette 1958 Véronique et son cancre Éric Rohmer 1961 Paris nous appartient Jacques Rivette
As assistant director (selected) Year Title Director 1958 Le Beau Serge Claude Chabrol 1959 À double tour Claude Chabrol 1960 Les Bonnes Femmes Claude Chabrol 1962 Vivre sa vie Jean-Luc Godard 1962 Landru Claude Chabrol 1962 Le Doulos Jean-Pierre Melville 1963 Les Carabiniers Jean-Luc Godard 1963 Le Mépris Jean-Luc Godard 1965 Alphaville Jean-Luc Godard 1966 Made in U.S.A. Jean-Luc Godard 1967 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle Jean-Luc Godard 1967 La Chinoise Jean-Luc Godard
References