Philippe Rousselot
About
Biography
Filmography
Notes
Rousselot has received Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography for his work on "Hope and Glory" (1987), "Henry and June" (1990) and "A River Runs Through It" (1992). He won for the latter.
"His work has a Renaissance, Vermeer-Rembrandt quality to it. --Robert Redford quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, May 14, 1996.
Biography
Assisted Nestor Almendros on three films directed by Eric Rohmer before graduating to director of photography in 1972. Rousselot had already enjoyed fruitful collaborations with directors Diane Kurys and Claude Goretta before landing in the spotlight with Jean-Jacques Beineix's slick, stylish thriller, "Diva" (1982). Heavily dependent on Rousselot's chic visuals, the film won him his first Cesar (the French Oscar) and kicked off a prestigious international career.
Rousselot won a second Cesar for Alain Cavalier's "Therese" (1986) around the time he began venturing into English-language cinema, evoking the passions of the 18th century French aristocracy in "Dangerous Liaisons" (1988) and those of 20th century literati Henry Miller and Anais Nin in "Henry and June" (1990, Oscar-nominated). Rousselot has often worked with John Boorman, adding a patina of fantasy to both the sober nostalgia of "Hope and Glory" (1987), which brought him a second Academy nomination, and the adventures within "The Emerald Forest" (1985). Woodlands have, in fact, provided a showcase for some of Rousselot's finest work--"A River Runs Through It" (1992), for which he earned a Best Cinematography Oscar, and "The Bear" (1988), for which he built a number of camera mounts and other devices to ingeniously mimic a bear's-eye view of the world.
Rousselot returned to France to shoot the epic "Queen Margot" (1994), which earned him a third Cesar. He subsequently provided the burnished tones for Neil Jordan's "Interview With the Vampire" (also 1994) and Stephen Frears' "Mary Reilly" (1996). In 1997, he stepped behind the camera to direct "The Serpent's Kiss," but the troubled film was not widely seen.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cinematography (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Life Events
1969
First film as assistant camera operator, "My Night at Maud's"
1972
First film as director of photography, "Repeated Absences"
1985
Shot first English-language feature, "The Emerald Forest"
1997
Directed first feature, "Serpent's Kiss"; screened at the Cannes Film Festival
2001
Shot the Tim Burton-directed adaptation of "Planet of the Apes"
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Bibliography
Notes
Rousselot has received Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography for his work on "Hope and Glory" (1987), "Henry and June" (1990) and "A River Runs Through It" (1992). He won for the latter.
"His work has a Renaissance, Vermeer-Rembrandt quality to it. --Robert Redford quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, May 14, 1996.
