JEAN BOFFETY

Born: 7 June 1925, Chantelle, Allier, France, as Jean Camille Charles Boffety.

Died: 25 June 1988, Paris, France.

Education: l'École de Vaugirard [now ÉNSLL], Paris, France.

Career: Ph commercials dir by Georges Dumoulin.

His son Pierre [1956-] is a doph. His daughter Béatrice [1952-] played a part in 'Les choses de la vie' [1969] and dir the doc 'Plat du jour' [1983; ph: Pierre Boffety].

Awards: 'César' Award nom [1979] for 'Une histoire simple'.

'Jean Wave cinematographers [he photographed many films for Robert Enrico, an underrated director himself]. Boffety was a quintessential French mec, a hard living, hard-drinking and chain-smoking guy who died from his excesses way too early, but who had a passion for filmmaking even greater than he had for Johnny Walker Black. During a car trip that Carol [Littleton] and I made into the heart of Mexico with Boffety, he insisted that we take a slight detour from our itinerary, to have a tequila in the town of Tequila. We watched the ritual of the Sunday evening paseo in cathedral plaza as Boffety sized up the strolling, chaperoned maidens, while never letting his glass verge toward empty. I was uncertain whether we were all going to get back to the rental car intact. One of my clearest memories of Jean Boffety comes from a visit to Paris when I slept on his apartment's living room sofa. No matter how late he had been up the night before, Jean always rose way early before the shooting call. As he headed toward the bathroom at 5 am, I'd see and smell his smoking Gitanes dangling Belmondo-like from his lips; this was followed by a coup of whiskey after brushing his teeth. Accompanying him downstairs to the corner bar-tabac we'd chat as I drank a coffee while he nursed a Calvados and even while lighting up his fourth smoke... Adieu, cher Jean. You, too, were the New Wave.' [John Bailey on the ASC website.] Boffety was one of the lesser-known but brilliant New a double express,

FILMS
*1960*	Le propre de l'homme/The Right of Man [Claude Lelouch] b&w; unreleased; copies of the film were destroyed
1961	Au coeur de la vie/In the Midst of Life [Robert Enrico] b&w; comp of 3 shorts: 'Chickamauga ou La rivière de la mort' (30m; 1961), 'L'oiseau moquer' (36m; 1961) & 'La rivière du hibou/(An) Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' (27m; 1962)
*1962*	La vie de château [Claude Lelouch] started shooting in April, but prod was halted after 1 week due to financial problems; footage destroyed
1962	La belle vie/The Good Life [Robert Enrico] b&w
1963	La mort d'un tueur/Death of a Killer [Robert Hossein] b&w
1964	Les yeux cernés/Marked Eyes [Robert Hossein] b&w
1964	Yoyo/Yo Yo [Pierre Étaix] b&w; restored in 2007 & 2010
1965	Un mondo nuovo/Un monde nouveau [Vittorio De Sica] b&w
1965	Tant qu'on a la santé [Pierre Étaix] c; expanded version of short film 'Nous n'irons plus au bois' (see Shorts & Documentaries, 1963); when film was re-edited in 1971, one seq was removed and restored & released in 2010 as 'En pleine forme' (b&w; 13m)
1965	Les grandes gueules/The Wise Guys [Robert Enrico] ts/c

1965	Qui êtes-vous Polly Maggoo? [William Klein] b&w
1966	Avec la peau des autres/To Skin a Spy [Jacques Deray] ts/c
1966	Les aventuriers/The Last Adventure [Robert Enrico] ts/c
1967	Le treizième caprice [Roger Boussinot] c
1967	Loin du Vietnam/Far from Vietnam [Alain Resnais, William Klein, Joris Ivens, Agnès Varda, Claude Lelouch & Jean-Luc Godard; Chris Marker (superv)] 16mm+35mm-to-35mm/b&w-c; doc/120m; 11 seg + intro & epilogue; cph: Willy Kurant, Ghislain Cloquet, Alain Levent, Denys Clerval, Bernard Zitzermann & Kieu Tham
1967	Tante Zita/Zita [Robert Enrico] c
1967	Oi voskoi/Les pâtres du désordre/Thanos and Despina/The Shepherds of Calamity [Nikos Papatakis] b&w; cph: Christian Guillouet
1967	Je t'aime, je t'aime [Alain Resnais] c
1967	Vivre la nuit/Love in the Night [Marcel Camus] fs/c
1968	Ho! [Robert Enrico] fs/c
1968	Le grand amour [Pierre Étaix] c
1969	Act of the Heart/Acte du coeur [Paul Almond] c
1969	Eliza's Horoscope [Gordon Sheppard] c; test film/10m; see 1970
1969	Les choses de la vie/The Things of Life/These Things Happen/L'amante [Claude Sautet] c
1970	Un peu, beaucoup, passionnément... [Robert Enrico] c
1970	Eliza's Horoscope [Gordon Sheppard] c; cph: Michel Brault (took over after 1 month because J. Boffety had to leave for France for his next assignment) & Paul Van der Linden (took over from M. Brault and finished the film); see 1969
1970	Boulevard du rhum/Winner Takes All [Robert Enrico] c
1971	Le saut de l'ange/Codename Cobra [Yves Boisset] c
1971	Journey/Détour [Paul Almond] c
1971	Les malheurs d'Alfred/The Troubles of Alfred [Pierre Richard] c
1971	Les 'Bicots-Nègres' vos voisins/Arabs and Niggers, Your Neighbours [Abid Med Hondo] 16mm-35bu/c; docudrama/190m; cph: François Catonné; released in 1974
1972	Tout le monde il est beau, tout le monde il est gentil [Jean Yanne] c
1972	César et Rosalie/César and Rosalie [Claude Sautet] c
1972	Les caïds/The Big Shots/The Hell Below [Robert Enrico] ts/c
1972	Moi, y'en a vouloir des sous [Jean Yanne] p/c; 2uc: Henri Clairon & Patrice Wyers

1973	Thieves Like Us [Robert Altman] c; visual cons: Jack DeGovia & Scott Bushnell
1973	Les Chinois à Paris [Jean Yanne] c
1974	Vincent, François, Paul... et les autres [Claude Sautet] c
1974	Les noces de porcelaine [Roger Coggio] c
1975	Mords pas, on t'aime [Yves Allégret] c
1975	Folle à tuer/Mad Enough to Kill [Yves Boisset] c
1976	Mado [Claude Sautet] c
1976	La dentellière/The Lacemaker [Claude Goretta] c
1978	Quintet [Robert Altman] c
1978	Un papillon sur l'épaule [Jacques Deray] c; cph: Jean Charvein
1978	Une histoire simple/A Simple Story [Claude Sautet] c
1978	L'homme en colère/The Angry Man/Jigsaw [Claude Pinoteau] c

"Dizengoff 99"

1979	Dizengoff 99/99 Dizengoff Street [Avi Nesher] c
1979	Le Pull-over rouge/The Red Sweater [Michel Drach] p/c
1980	Un mauvais fils [Claude Sautet] c
1980	Les uns et les autres/Bolero [: Dance of Life] [Claude Lelouch] tvi/c; 2uc: Jacques Lefrançois; also 6-part tv-miniseries (1983)
1980	By Design/Sur mesure [Claude Jutra] c; 2uc: John Seale
1981	Croque la vie [Jean Charles Tacchella] p/c
1981	Espion lève-toi [Yves Boisset] c
1982	Le gendarme et les gendarmettes/Never Play Clever Again [Jean Girault & Tony Aboyantz] c; 2uc: Didier Tarot
1982	Édith et Marcel/Edith and Marcel [Claude Lelouch] c
1983	Garçon!/Waiter! [Claude Sautet] c
1983	Canicule/Dog Day [Yves Boisset] p/c
1985	Folie suisse [Christine Lipinska] c
1986	Mort un dimanche de pluie/Death on a Rainy Sunday [Joël Santoni] p/c; cph: Pavel Korinek
1987	Doux amer [Franck Apprederis] c
1988	Makom l'yad hayam/A Place by the Sea [Raphael Rebibo] c
1988	Cinq jours en juin/Five Days in June [Michel Legrand] c; ?; ph: Jean-Yves Le Mener

SHORTS & DOCUMENTARIES
1952	Nous sommes déjà 150 millions/150 Million Strong: The Schuman Plan [Jacques Letellier] b&w; doc/12m
1953	Les cathédrales de France au rythme des saisons [Édouard Logereau] c; doc/25m
1959	Les trois amis [- Motoculteurs au travail] [Robert Enrico] ?; doc/?m
1959	L'or de la Durance [- Semences de luzerne] [Robert Enrico] c; doc/16m; cph: Quinto Albicocco & René Mathelin
1960	Thaumetopoea [ou La vie deschenilles processionnaires du pin et leur extermination contrôlée] [Robert Enrico] b&w; doc/23m; cph: René Mathelin & Paul de Roubaix
1960	Le métier des autres: Terrassiers et mineurs-boiseurs [Robert Enrico] ?; doc/712mtr; cph: Jacques Curtiss
1960	Elle conduit [Claude Lelouch] c; short/15m
1961	Demain le Rouergue [Édouard Logereau] c; doc/550mtr
1961	Connaissez-vous la Vendée? [Édouard Logereau] c; doc/24m
1961	Octobre à Paris [Jacques Panijel] b&w; doc/68m; or ph Jacques Huybrechts; filmed October 1961-March 1962 'par une équipe de cinéastes français'
1962	La dame à la longue-vue [Serge Korber] ?; short/16m; cph: Claude Saunier
1963	Connaissez-vous le Rouergue? [Édouard Logereau] c; doc/23m; cph: Jean Collomb
1963	Nous n'irons plus au bois [Pierre Étaix] b&w; short/17m; expanded into 'Tant qu'on a la santé'; see Films (1965)
1963	Contrepoint [Robert Enrico] 16mm/c; doc/22m & 36m
1963	Insomnie [Pierre Étaix] c; short/17m
1963	Fario et les pêcheurs [Armand Chartier] 16mm/c; doc/30m; cph: Quinto Albicocco
1963	Au pays des quatre vertus [Armand Chartier] b&w; doc/90m; filmed in Japan
1964	De Tokyo à Tokyo [Armand Chartier] c; doc/14m; filmed in Japan
1964	Hamas [Armand Chartier] c; doc/25m; filmed in Japan
1964	Heures paysannes du Japon [Armand Chartier] c; doc/14m; filmed in Japan
1964	Honorable Japon [Armand Chartier] c; doc/15m; filmed in Japan
1964	Bagatelle pour un centenaire [Yannick Bellon & Jean Salvy] ?; doc/?m
1964	Le dernier matin d'Alexandre Pouchkine [Maurice Fasquel] ?; short/26m
1969	L'amante religieuse [Jacques Oger] c; short/600mtr
1973	L'école sauvage [Costa Natsis & Adam Pianko] 16mm/c; doc/80m
1975	[Histoires abominables:] Pauvre Sonia [Dominique Maillet] ?; short/12m
1976	Enfin [Daniel Jouanisson] c; short/9m
1977	Le fond de l'air est rouge/A Grin Without a Cat [Chris Marker] b&w-c; doc/240m; cph: Pierre Lhomme, P.W. ( Pierre-William) Glenn, Étienne Becker, Willy Kurant, a.o.; Originally released in France on 23 November 1977 with a running time of 240m. It was released with the subtitle 'Scènes de la Troisième Guerre mondiale (1967-1977)'. It was re-edited by Marker in 1993 and scaled down to two parts of 90m each, the first titled 'Les mains fragiles/The Fragile Hands' and the second 'Les mains coupées/The Severed Hands'
1978	Les seize ans de Jérémy Millet [Dominique Maillet] ?; short/15m
1981	...et il voulut être une femme [Michel Ricaud] c; doc/76m
1986	Le cœur musicien [Frédéric Rossif] 16mm/c; mus doc/84m; 2uc; ph: Richard Andry & Daniel Barrau
1998	In and Out of Fashion [William Klein] b&w-c; doc/88m; cph (archive footage): Gérard de Battista, Pierre Lhomme & Philippe Rousselot

2010

En pleine forme/Feeling Good [Pierre Étaix] b&w; short/13m; filmed in 1965 and restored/re-released in 2010; see Films ('Tant qu'on a la santé', 1965)

TELEVISION
1964	Daphné [Robert Enrico] tvm
1968	Le sacre du printemps [Maurice Béjart] ballet film/36m
1969	California Impressions/Impressions de Californie [Henri Cartier-Bresson] doc/23m; cph: H. Cartier-Bresson; for CBS News
1978	Lulu [Marcel Bluwal] tvm

"The Hostage Tower"

1979	The Hostage Tower [Claudio Guzmán] tvm; in theaters outside USA
1984	L'aide-mémoire [Pierre Boutron] tvm

MISCELLANEOUS
1957	Ni vu, ni connu/L'affaire Blaireau [Yves Robert] c.op; ph: Jacques Letellier

[Top] with dir Jacques Rozier [right] - "Adieu Philippine"

1960

Adieu Philippine [Jacques Rozier] c.op; ph: René Mathelin