Jean Rabier, who was born in France in 1927 and made his mark on cinema during the French New Wave, has died at the age of 89. Though he passed on February 15, we're only just now getting the news. Rabier began in documentaries, later moved into narrative films as a camera operator on films like François Truffaut's The 400 Blows, and then went on to shoot classics such as Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7 and Le Bonheur, and Jacques Demy'sThe Umbrellas of Cherbourg:
Jean Rabier behind the camera.
He also had an extensive collaboration with director Claude Chabrol that spanned dozens of projects and most of his career, finally coming to a close with Madame Bovary in 1991. If you haven't seen any of his work, here's a beautiful trailer for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg:
The Criterion Collection also released this great video showing some of the process of restoring the film:
And here's the trailer for Cléo from 5 to 7:
