Alain Levent

Biography

Alain Levent (15 September 1934 – 28 August 2008) was a French cinematographer who also worked as a film director. He is best known for his camera work on a range of French films from the 1960s and 1970s, a period in which he moved between arthouse drama, adventure and horror.

Levent worked on around eighty films between 1960 and 2007. His cinematography on Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) is among the titles most often cited, and he also shot My Uncle Benjamin (1969) and Wild Love (1969). He later moved into directing, and his 1972 film The Bar at the Crossing was selected for the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival.

His work behind the camera shows a flexible approach that suited directors with very different aims, which explains the range of projects he took on. He died in August 2008, and his legacy rests mainly on the films he photographed, which remain part of the record of French cinema of his era.

Key films

• Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
• My Uncle Benjamin (1969)
• Wild Love (1969)
• The Bar at the Crossing (1972)
• Far West (1973)