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Jacques Natteau

Jacques Natteau

Cinematographer, also producer · Died April 17, 2007, aged 86 · Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]

Jacques Natteau (15 November 1920 – 17 April 2007) was a French director of photography. Natteau was born on 15 November 1920 in Istanbul, Turkey. His father, Edouard Chiuminatto, was a captain in the French Army who had fought in World War I and was wounded multiple times in the battles of the Somme, Chemin des Dames, and Verdun. After World War I, his father was dispatched to Turkey as part of the Allied occupation force where he met Rosine Foscolo, a direct descendant of the 19th century Italian poet, Ugo Foscolo. Edouard and Rosine married and gave birth to their only child, Jacques Etienne Chiuminatto. Under the terms of the 1919 Versailles Treaty, the defeated Ottoman Empire, as an ally of Imperial Germany, surrendered and was occupied by Anglo-French forces. The French Army seized Turkey's railways and Edouard was put in charge of administering the railway network. When Natteau was three years old, Kemal Atatürk came to power and ended the Allied occupation of Turkey. The family settled in Paris and the young Jacques Natteau won admittance to Paris's prestigious Lycée Henri IV where he graduated in 1938 earning his Baccalauréat. He later remembered that, on 4 February 1934, he literally ran for his life as violent riots broke out in Paris prior to the collapse of the French government. Growing up in Paris's artistic 6ème arrondissement in the 1930s, Natteau came to know some of its most successful residents including Jean Cocteau, Jacques Prévert, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Pablo Picasso. In 1939 on the eve of World War II, Edouard, haunted by the horrendous slaughter he had seen as a foot soldier in the bloody Battle of Verdun, persuaded his son to join the French Air Force. In the summer of 1939, Jacques Natteau enlisted in the air force with his Lycée Henri IV friends, many of whom were scions of the French nobility: Jean-Marie de Premontville, Armagnac, Raoul de Vibray, and Prince Louis Murat (direct descendant of Joachim Murat, Napoleon's famous cavalry general). By the time, Natteau and his friends had earned their wings as fighter pilots, the Franco-German Phoney War (September 1939 – May 1940) and the Battle of France and Hitler's victorious blitzkrieg against the West (May–June 1940) had all but ended. But as fighter pilots they had engaged German and Italian enemy fighters on multiple occasions. On one occasion Natteau, flying a Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighter, engaged three Italian fighter pilots who were strafing French civilians on the road. He shot down two and the third escaped. Upon France's collapse in 1940, Jacques Natteau linked up with the Royal Air Force and fought in the Battle of Britain. His exploits earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Legion of Honor. In 1938, the legendary French film director, Jean Renoir, gave him his first job as assistant camera man for the film La Bête humaine. But his career was interrupted by the onset of World War II. After the war, he resumed his career in the late 1940s and went on to become one of Europe's most famous cinematographers in the 1950s and 1960s. Natteau was the favoured cinematographer for Claude Autant-Lara. ... Source: Article "Jacques Natteau" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

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Biography from TMDB.

Born
November 15, 1920
Died
April 17, 2007 (aged 86)
From
Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]
Works as
Cinematographer, also producer
Titles
11 on MovieCove · 21 credits in all
Links
IMDb (opens in a new tab)TMDB (opens in a new tab)Wikidata (opens in a new tab)

Known for

TMDB popularity, last 39 days to Oct 28Up 15% in 30 days

What are Jacques Natteau's films like?

Across their 9 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Self.

Genres

Drama4 titlesTypical Midcredits score: 61st percentile
: browse their Drama movies
Comedy2 titlesTypical Midcredits score: 89th percentile, at or above their average across these genres
: browse their Comedy movies
Crime2 titlesTypical Midcredits score: 51st percentile
: browse their Crime movies

Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.

Themes

share of theme weight
Morality
45%
Self
20%
Bonds
12%
Power
11%
Society
7%
Survival
6%
Obsession2 titles, browse their movies with this themeSacrifice2 titles, browse their movies with this themeDeception2 titles, browse their movies with this themeGuilt2 titles, browse their movies with this themeBetrayal2 titles, browse their movies with this theme

What they feel like to watch

their average across 9 films
ToneFeelDemandtheir average · filled zone: the category
Stylized: How far its world departs from everyday reality. Browse their stylized movies.
Tone · Style
naturalisticheightened

Grounded 2 · Stylized 5 · Heightened 2

Charged: How hard the emotional peaks hit while you watch. Browse their charged movies.
Feel · Intensity
gentleintense

Gentle 0 · Charged 6 · Intense 3

Shifting: How much it swings between very different feelings. Browse their shifting movies.
Feel · Swings
steadyswings

Steady 1 · Shifting 7 · Whiplash 1

Some laughs: How much of the runtime is played for laughs. Browse their some laughs movies.
Feel · Humor
noneconstant

A split, not a type: Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 2

Slow burn: How fast it moves from scene to scene. Browse their slow burn movies.
Demand · Pace
slowrelentless

Slow burn 5 · Even-paced 4 · Relentless 0

Engaged: How much focus it asks of you — look away and lose the thread? Browse their engaged movies.
Demand · Attention
casualfull focus

Casual 4 · Engaged 4 · Full focus 1

Resolved: How much is left for you to interpret. Browse their resolved movies.
Demand · Resolution
resolvedambiguous

Resolved 7 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 1

Moods and endings

endings are an aggregate; no title is named

Dominant moods · mentions across their titles

Tense
6
Melancholic
5
Romantic
3
Absurd
2
Elegiac
2
Other
6

How their films linger

Thought-provoking5 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteHaunting3 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteHopeful2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteFeel-good2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteBittersweet2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteFun2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertaste

How their films end · 2 with a twist

  • Happy2
  • Bittersweet3
  • Tragic3
  • Ambiguous1

AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.

Where can I watch Jacques Natteau's films?

As of October 24, 2026, 4 of their 11 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.

Also on these channels

Subscription and free streaming for Jacques Natteau's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

21 credits, 11 with a MovieCove page.

  • Song of Love (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1972)

    Cinematographer

  • The Champagne Murders(1967)

    Associate Producer

    Midcredits score: 35th percentile of all films

  • Chicken Feed for Little Birds (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1963)

    Cinematographer

  • Enough Rope (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1963)

    Cinematographer

  • Phaedra(1962)

    Cinematographer

    Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all films

  • The Story of the Count of Monte Cristo(1961)

    Cinematographer

    Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films

  • Thou Shalt Not Kill (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1961)

    Cinematographer

  • Never on Sunday(1960)

    Cinematographer

    Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films

  • Normandy - Neman (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1960)

    Cinematographer

  • The Gambler (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1958)

    Cinematographer

  • Love Is My Profession(1958)

    Cinematographer

    Midcredits score: 66th percentile of all films

  • Les Misérables(1958)

    Cinematographer

    Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all films

  • He Who Must Die(1957)

    Cinematographer

    Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films

  • The Crossing of Paris(1956)

    Cinematographer

    Midcredits score: 90th percentile of all films

  • Marguerite de la nuit(1955)

    Cinematographer

    Midcredits score: 47th percentile of all films

  • Casta diva (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1954)

    First Assistant Director

  • The Seven Deadly Sins(1952)

    Camera Operator · Cinematographer

    Midcredits score: 50th percentile of all films

  • The Red Inn (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1951)

    Cinematographer

  • Truant School (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1949)

    Camera Operator

  • A Duel to the Death (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1947)

    Cinematographer

  • The Human Beast(1938)

    Assistant Camera

    Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films

Career shape

A full career of 21 titles from 1938 to 1972.

Biggest box office

Love Is My Profession (1958)

$49K worldwide

Highest rated

The Crossing of Paris (1956)

Midcredits 90th

Most popular right now

The Story of the Count of Monte Cristo (1961)

By role

only this rolewith another role
Producing1 of 21: 1 only producing, 0 with another roleCinematography16 of 21: 16 only cinematography, 0 with another role · typical Midcredits score79thOther crew4 of 21: 4 only other crew, 0 with another role

By decade

1930s1 · crew1940s2 · crew1950s9 · crew1960s8 · crew1970s1 · crew

Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.

How do Jacques Natteau's films land?

Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 72nd percentile, the median of all 11; across their 9 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 63rd percentile for acclaim.

Acclaim · how much people like their films

63rdpercentile
Typical film, the median of 9

Approval · how many liked their films

70thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 9

Reach · how many have seen their films

54thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 9

Midcredits score across 11 titles, by percentile

  • 75th and up5
  • 50th to 74th4
  • 25th to 49th2

Shape of the crowd

None of their 11 titles divides audiences: 9 are Crowd Pleasers.

  • Universally Loved1
  • Crowd Pleaser9
  • Mixed1

Most loved · cinematographer

The Crossing of Paris (1956)

Midcredits 90th · 79% liked

Reviewers score the cinematography 76/100 in their films, across 8 reviewed titles; fans 79, detractors 52. The element that speaks to their work as a cinematographer.

Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.

Who does Jacques Natteau work with?

People who share at least 2 of Jacques Natteau's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Claude Autant-Lara shares the most, 5.

Directors

Writers

Actors

Composers and editors

Producers