YORICK LE SAUX

Born: 10 August 1968, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

Education: La Fémis [Image/Cinematography; graduated in 1994].

Career: Ph commercials dir by Erick Zonca, Thierry Rajic, a.o. Ph music videos dir by Judith Cahen, a.o.

Also active as lighting des for the theater. Co-founder of 4A4 Productions, Paris.

Awards: Namur IFF 'Golden Bayard Award' [1998] for 'Sitcom'.

'Io sono l'amore/I Am Love' [2008]: 'During pre-production, Yorick Le Saux helped [director] Luca Guadagnino narrow down his tools of choice. "Luca is probably the most technical director I've worked with," observes Le Saux. "He knows everything about cameras and lenses. I think he can tell you every special speed that Christopher Doyle used on a Wong Kar-wai movie in the Nineties! My work was to show him a lot of things - aspect ratio, filters, film stocks, lenses and so on - and then reduce and explain why we didn't need this or that. My job consisted of simplifying and finding a good way to shoot the story." Guadagnino adds, "My dream is to spend four months with special technicians finding those things that fit my movie."

Guadagnino originally wanted to frame the film in 1.33:1, "like 'The Magnificent Ambersons'," he says. But Le Saux dissuaded him. "I said, 'It's okay if you want the film to be shown on a cell phone, but to be on screens now, it has to be either 1.85 or 2.40,'" recalls Le Saux. "He was concerned about seeing the ceilings and the architecture of the palazzo, so, in the end, we chose 1.85."

The palazzo was well worth exploiting. Built in the 1930s for a wealthy family, the Villa Necchi Campiglio was designed by Milanese architect Piero Portaluppi and is now a museum, which meant the filmmakers had to contend with severe restrictions on grip and lighting equipment. "It was difficult because they were always on our backs, watching," says Le Saux. "It was impossible to put lights overhead, so almost everything went through the windows, but the windows were so huge that every light seemed small. Our budget was limited, so I was using natural light with reflectors and white bounce. I'd also try to determine the best hour for shooting, but each time, we were late."

Le Saux operated the main camera, an Arricam Lite that was equipped with a Cooke S4 prime lens or an Angénieux Optimo 24–290mm zoom. "It's a better way to feel the light," he says of operating. "When I'm not looking through the camera, I cannot feel the light from inside the movie." The B camera, which was infrequently used, was an Arri 535B.

To help differentiate the story's two worlds, Le Saux used two different tungsten stocks: Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 for the palazzo and Fuji Eterna 250T 8553 for Antonio’s bungalow and garden. "With daylight stock, the contrast on the Riviera would have been too high, too strong," he notes. The lovers' world was intended to be soft and sensual, so filtration was also boosted for the countryside scenes; Le Saux used Tiffen Pro-Mist and Soft/FX filters, sometimes at levels as high as 1 or 2. "We used a lot of filters," he notes. "The idea was to approximate the look of some of the 1970s film stocks. Sometimes we shot one extra take with a stronger filter, and if it was too much, we just didn't use it. But we did go very far." [From article by Patricia Thomson in 'American Cinematographer', July 2010.]

FILMS
1990	Le rabattement des petits côtés [Yorick Le Saux] c; short/10m; prod La Fémis
1990	68-69 [Gérard Guéguan] ?; short/?m
1991	Narcisse [Judith Cahen] v/c; short/22m; 2 seg: 'Autoportraits' (3m) & 'Juste un petit tourbillon' (19m); prod La Fémis
1991	Thomas reconstitué/Reconstructed Thomas [François Ozon] v/c; short/10m; prod La Fémis
1992	Queue de poisson [Judith Cahen] c; short/16m; cph: Sylvia Calle; prod La Fémis
1994	Zingaro [Juliette Cheneau] ?; doc/?m
1994	Action vérité/Truth or Dare [François Ozon] c; short/4m
1994	La petite mort/Little Death [François Ozon] c; short/24m
1994	La croisade d'Anne Buridan [Judith Cahen] 16mm/c; short/58m; cph: Sylvia Calle; co-prod La Fémis
1995	Épingler Camille [Sylvia Calle] c; short/12m
1995	Strictement footinguesque [Judith Cahen] s16-35bu/c; short/25m
1995	Le vide dedans moi [Cyriac Auriol & Lola Doillon] c; short/8m
1995	Tout va mal [Marco Nicoletti] c; short/12m
1995	Une robe d'été/A Summer Dress [François Ozon] c; short/15m
1995	Les soirs blues d'été [Djibril Glissant] c; short/4m
1995	Mon copain Rachid [Philippe Barassat] c; short/17m; 2uc; ph: Bertrand Follet
1996	[Scènes de lit/Bedtime Stories] Le trou noir/The Black Hole [François Ozon] c; short/2m; also seg (#1) of 'Scènes de lit/Bed Scenes/Bedtime Stories'
1996	[Scènes de lit/Bedtime Stories] L'homme idéal/The Ideal Man [François Ozon] c; short/4m; also seg (#5) of 'Scènes de lit/Bed Scenes/Bedtime Stories'
1996	[Scènes de lit/Bedtime Stories] Love in the Dark [François Ozon] c; short/5m; also seg (#6) of 'Scènes de lit/Bed Scenes/Bedtime Stories'
1996	Scènes de lit/Bed Scenes/Bedtime Stories [François Ozon] c; short/26m (7 seg); cph: Matthieu Vadepied (4 seg)
1996	Regarde la mer/See the Sea [François Ozon] c; short/52m
1997	Comme un frère [Cyril Bedel] c; short/13m
1997	La mort dans l'âme [Wilfried Prager] b&w (sepia); short/13m
1997	Sitcom [François Ozon] c
1997	I Would Prefer Not To [Florence Pezon] c; short/15m
1997	Un peu de temps réel [Olivier Torres] c; short/12m; + co-prod
1998	Bonne résistance à la douleur/High Pain Management [Pierre-Erwan Guillaume] c; short/25m
1998	Fin août, début septembre/Late August, Early September [Olivier Assayas] s16-35bu/c; 2uc; ph: Denis Lenoir
1999	Dans le sens du poil [Agathe Teyssier] c; short/16m
1999	Chico notre homme à Lisbonne [Edouard Baer] c; short/26m
1999	Le bel hiver [Olivier Torres] s16-35bu/c; short/32m
2000	Café de la plage/Beach Cafe [Benoît Graffin] c
2000	Un oiseau dans le plafond [Céline Macherel] s16-35bu/c; short/15m
2000	Candidature [Emmanuel Bourdieu] s16-35bu/c; short/42m
2001	Demonlover [Olivier Assayas] s35+s16-to-s35/c; 2uc; ph: Denis Lenoir
2001	SY NYC 12/12/01: The Demonlover Sessions [Yorick Le Saux] c; mus doc/30m; cph: Chris Habib
2002	La vie comme elle est [Emmanuel Bourdieu] dv-to-35mm/c; short/6m; as Yorick Lesaux
2002	Les corps impatients/Eager Bodies [Xavier Giannoli] c
2002	À ta place [Agathe Teyssier] s16-35bu/c; short/33m; + co-prod
2002	Swimming Pool [François Ozon] c
2003	Vert paradis/Les Cadets de Gascogne/Green Paradise [Emmanuel Bourdieu] c
2003	Une aventure/Only the Night [Xavier Giannoli] c
2003	Les parallèles [Nicolas Saada] c; short/31m; + co-prod
2003	5x2/5 x 2: Five Times Two [François Ozon] c
2004	Gloria mundi [Nico Papatakis] c; ph new introduction; ph: Frédéric Variot (filmed in 1975)
2004	Water [Shuichi Yoshida] c; short/28m
2004	Mon meilleur ami [Stéphane Granata] c; short/30m
2005	Les amitiés maléfiques/Poison Friends [Emmanuel Bourdieu] scope/c; + co-prod
2005	Quand j'étais chanteur/The Singer [Xavier Giannoli] c
2005	Un lever de rideau/A Curtain Raiser [François Ozon] s16-35bu/c; short/29m
2006	Début [Pascal Rambert] s16-35bu/c; short/17m
2006	Boarding Gate [Olivier Assayas] s35/c
2006	Le voyage du ballon rouge/Flight of the Red Balloon [Hsiao-hsien Hou] c; or ph Pin Bing Lee
2006	Julia [Erick Zonca] s35/c
2007	Chacun son cinéma [ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence]/To Each His Own Cinema [seg (3m) 'Recrudescence/Upsurge' dir by Olivier Assayas] b&w-c; originally 34 seg
2007	Blanche neige/Schneewittchen [Angelin Preljocaj] c; ballet film/90m
*2007*	A l’origine/In the Beginning [Xavier Giannoli] was the intended ph, but was unavailable; replaced by Glynn Speeckaert; filmed 2007-08
2008	La femme invisible (d'après une histoire vraie)/The Invisible Woman [Agathe Teyssier] c; + co-prod/co-scrpl
2008	Io sono l'amore/I Am Love [Luca Guadagnino] c; 2uc: Daria D'Antonio; see above

"Carlos"

2009	Carlos [, le film] [Olivier Assayas] ts/c; cph: Denis Lenoir; comp of 3-part tv-miniseries
2009	Potiche [François Ozon] 35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c
2011	Arbitrage [Nicholas Jarecki] s35-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c
2011	One Plus One [Luca Guadagnino] c; fashion short/3m; for Giorgio Armani (spring/summer collection 2012)
2011	Destinée [Luca Guadagnino] HD/c; comm short/7m; prod for Cartier
2012	Skin to Skin [Luca Guadagnino] c; fashion short/2m; for Sergio Rossi
2012	Only Lovers Left Alive [Jim Jarmusch] HD (ARRI ALEXA Plus)/c; 2uc (Detroit): Christos Moisides
2013	Clouds of Sils Maria [Olivier Assayas] scope (+ digital)/b&w-c
2014	A Bigger Splash [Luca Guadagnino] 35mm+HD (Sony F55)-to-digital/c; ph UK: Peter Suschitzky; remake of 'La piscine' (1968, Jacques Deray; ph: Jean-Jacques Tarbès)
2015	Personal Shopper [Olivier Assayas] ts-to-digital/c
2017	High Life [Claire Denis] HD-to-digital/c; ph Poland: Tomasz Naumiuk
2017	Doubles vies/Double Lives/Non-Fiction [Olivier Assayas] s16/c; filmed 2017-18
2018	Little Women [Greta Gerwig] s35/c; insert ph: Joel San Juan

TELEVISION
2007	Eldorado [Olivier Assayas] mus doc/90m
2009	Carlos [Olivier Assayas] 3-part (x 90m) miniseries/ts, 2010; ph majority ep #1 & 50/50 ep #3; cph: Denis Lenoir (majority ep #2); also ed into a feature film

FILMS AS CAMERA OPERATOR
1992	Victor [François Ozon; short] ph: Sylvia Calle; prod La Fémis
1993	Une rose entre nous/A Rose Between Us [François Ozon; short] ph: Sylvia Calle; prod La Fémis
2001	8 femmes/8 Women [François Ozon; feature] ph: Jeanne Lapoirie
2011	Shut Up and Play the Hits [Will Lovelace & Dylan Southern; mus doc/concert film] co-c.op; ph: Reed Morano

FILMS AS DIRECTOR
1990	Le rabattement des petits côtés [short] + ph; prod La Fémis; see Films
1992	Rémi [short] ph: ?
1994	La French Correction [short] ph: ?
199?	Le diable était en chaleur [short] ph: ?
2000	Va au diable [s16-35bu/c; short/20m] ph: Nathalie Sarles; + prod
2001	Making of 'Demonlover' [doc/57m/V] ph: ?
2001	SY NYC 12/12/01: The Demonlover Sessions [mus doc] + cph; see Films
2001	8 femmes - l'enfer du décor [doc/?m] ph: ?; the making of '8 femmes/8 Women' (François Ozon; ph: Jeanne Lapoirie)

FILMS AS [CO-/ASSOCIATE] PRODUCER
1997	Un peu de temps réel [Olivier Torres] + ph; see Films
1999	La fatigue [Frédéric Cousseau; short] ph: Pierre Parmentier
2000	Va au diable [dir; short] see Films as Director
2001	Comme un seul homme/All for One [Jean-Louis Gonnet; short] ph: Mathias Raaflaub, a.o.
2002	À ta place [Agathe Teyssier] + ph; see Films
2002	Osmose/Osmosis [Raphaël Fejtö; feature] ph: Mathias Raaflaub
2003	Les parallèles [Nicolas Saada] + ph; see Films
2003	La nuit sera longue [Olivier Torres; short] ph: Caroline Champetier
2004	Le souffle [Mathieu Vadepied; short] ph: Pierre Bonnet
2005	Mille soleils [Matthieu Vadepied; short] ph: Thomas Bataille
2005	Les amitiés maléfiques/Poison Friends [Emmanuel Bourdieu] + ph; see Films
2008	La femme invisible (d'après une histoire vraie)/The Invisible Woman [Agathe Teyssier] + co-scrpl/ph; see Films
2009	La ligne blanche [Olivier Torres] ph: Caroline Champetier
2011	Un enfant de toi/A Child of Yours/You, Me and Us [Jacques Doillon] assoc prod; ph: Renato Berta & Laurent Chalet