American Cinematographer - December 2004 - 69

it either comes from the side

or

from

above. I add very
I

little inside the set;
try to build the lighting as a func¬

tion of the

set

and the frame."

Although he avoids lights
the set, Delbonnel

on

occasionally uses

Kino Flo Flathead 80 with diffu¬

in the hospital; and sometimes a
greenish brown, as in the trenches.
Brown is what ties the two parts of
the movie together. We didn't want a
completely unified tone. The color is

and rather monochromatic,

warm

but

Delbonnel singles out Eclair
Laboratories colorist Yvan Lucas for
his contribution

to

the film's

sophis¬

ticated range of colors. In the 1990s,
Lucas made great contributions to
the application of silver-retention

always sought to bring out
spots of other colors. For the trench¬
es, the image is cold and always

processes

the actors because it doesn't heat

anchored

of the best timers in the world,"

up." When using reflectors, he avoids

soldiers' uniforms."

a

sion to

supplement

a

"The Flathead allows

large
us

to

source.
be near

we

on

the blue of the French

like NEC (Noir en
Couleur), notably on every Jeunet
film that has used them. "Yvan is

Delbonnel

says,

one

adding with

a

white. "I don't like white reflections
the skin

you feel them." He
gold reflector instead, or cre¬
ates bounce light off a straw gel.
on

-

uses a

Delbonnel

lighting is

stresses

not realistic.

that his

approach.

film

scenes

I&l-lmaging

&

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"Realism

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Hi fuji film

an

It's very
important to me, and it's why I don't
do certain films. For example, in this
have

we

there is

set

in 1920, but

gaslight." He adds that the
strong colors of the film are "an
affirmation that what you are seeing
is not reality. We're not reconstitut¬
ing a period; we're not doing sepia.
no

We're in

a

world that has existed, but

reference

to other depictions."
point in the discus¬
sion, the cinematographer pauses to
praise Gordon Willis, ASC. For

isn't

a

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At this

Delbonnel,

one

of the landmarks of

cinematography is Willis' pioneer¬
ing use of skirted bay lights (or
"chicken coops") to illuminate
scenes from above in the Godfather
movies. Prior to production on A
Very Long Engagement, Jeunet
screened the flashback sequences of
Godfather II, set in Sicily and New
York, for key collaborators as a refer¬
ence for designing a warm color
scheme. The color palette of
Engagement is quite a bit more var¬

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ied, however, and contributes much
to

the film's modern look.
Delbonnel

broadly divides

the film into the "cold" colors of the
wartime trenches and the "warm"

world of peacetime. The key color
for the film is brown, "sometimes a

reddish brown,
room;

as

sometimes

in Mathilde's bed¬
a

yellow brown, as

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65
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