At the beginning of his career, Christian Matras quickly established a reputation as a solid technician and an expert in creating decorative and psychological ambiences which testify to his range of taste. During his career, he adapted to developing techniques, as well as to the demands of varied directors.
Using his early training as a newsreel photographer, Matras successfully applied the technique of plain observation to feature films in the ‘30s. His documentary style was put to good use in Renoir’s ‘La grande illusion’, a study of war. Renoir chose to tell his story of the dry rot of inaction, not on the battlefield, but behind the lines in a prison camp. It is a story of complex themes often revealed through camera movements.
This technique would typify Matras’ work prior to World War II. During this period, it was careful, painstakingly detailed, and intelligent, almost to the point of coldness. After World War II, his documentary style gave way to dazzling, flowing… read more
At the beginning of his career, Christian Matras quickly established a reputation as a solid technician and an expert in creating decorative and psychological ambiences which testify to his range of taste. During his career, he adapted to developing techniques, as well as to the demands of varied directors.
Using his early training as a newsreel photographer, Matras successfully applied the technique of plain observation to feature films in the ‘30s. His documentary style was put to good use in Renoir’s ‘La grande illusion’, a study of war. Renoir chose to tell his story of the dry rot of inaction, not on the battlefield, but behind the lines in a prison camp. It is a story of complex themes often revealed through camera movements.
This technique would typify Matras’ work prior to World War II. During this period, it was careful, painstakingly detailed, and intelligent, almost to the point of coldness. After World War II, his documentary style gave way to dazzling, flowing camera movements. Matras adapted well to color filming; his ‘Barbe-Bleue’ was considered the first successful French film in color.
However, it is his work with Max Ophüls for which Matras is best known. Ophüls’ films demanded complex camera work – long elaborate takes with flowing camera movements. Brilliant camera use became the director’s trademark; without the fluid, impressionistic skill of Matras, Ophüls would not be as highly regarded as he is. In ‘La ronde’, Matras’ first collaboration with Ophüls, Matras used sweeping camera work that would develop into the camera choreography used in ‘Lola Montès’.
The filming of ‘Lola Montès’ is the epitome of Matras’ craftsmanship and technique. For example, in the circus scenes, Ophüls was more interested in the audience than the main action. For this, Matras uses 360 degree camera shots. Some scenes were conceived and written to constitute dynamic walkthroughs, and the camera stays with the characters, persistent and unshakeable as it stalks and prowls with them. Matras’ virtuoso camera movement makes the landscape and architecture seem to move.
‘Madame de…’ also contained fabulous photography. The story would be tedious if not for Matras’ fluid camera, which juxtaposes intimate and dramatic shots to reveal theme and character. Ophüls relied on continuous flow as opposed to collisions between shots for his storytelling, and long tracks are used not only to convey action, but to convey shifts of mood, the evolution of time, and plot development. At the heart of the film is the ball scene. The couple dances round and round through one elegant ballroom after another, and the camera stays with them recording their changing feelings as the mood of frivolity recedes. A long continuous take follows the servant as he moves from light to light, extinguishing each until he finally blankets the scene in darkness when he covers the harp. —Renee Ward
