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Henri Decaë (31 July 1915 – 7 March 1987) gained fame as a cinematographer entering the film industry as a sound engineer and sound editor. He was a photojournalist in the French army during World War II. After the war he began making documentary shorts, directing and photographing industrial and commercial films. In 1947 he made his first feature film.

Decaë is strongly associated with directors who strongly influenced, or were part of, the French New Wave. These include Jean-Pierre Melville, Louis Malle and Claude Chabrol. Decaë first worked as a cinematographer with Melville on Le Silence de la Mer (1949). Decaë also edited and mixed the sound. Although Decaë worked with Melville on Les enfants terribles, which as Williams commented (1992, p333) "...the work is more accurately to be viewed as a stunning demonstration of the cinematic possibilities of faithful literary adaptation in the hands of a gifted director", according to Marie (p 88) it was his distinctive camera work on Bob le flambeur which caught the attention of the Cahiers critics. Malle hired him for his first two features and Chabrol for his first three features. They had been lucky as Decaë was finding it hard to get work at that time as he was being informally shunned by many after participating in a critical film about the Korean War. By the time Decaë worked for François Truffaut on The 400 Blows he came with a reputation, which meant that he was the highest-paid person on the film.

Decaë's liking for natural light, his ability to work at speed as well as his excellent photographic sensibility led to him working with René Clément on several features beginning with Plein soleil (1960). It was Decaë "...who liberated the camera, from its fixed tripod. He made the New Wave possible, backing up Melville, Malle, Chabrol and Truffaut." (Marie, 2003 p 89)

Henri Decaë, ou Henri Decae, né le 31 juillet 1915 à Saint-Denis, et mort le 7 mars 1987 à Suresnes, est un directeur de la photographie français.

Henri Decaë travaille comme photojournaliste dans l'Armée de l'air française pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. À l'exception de son travail comme opérateur sur quelques films de Marco de Gastyne, il commence sa carrière en réalisant des courts métrages, notamment pour Jean Mineur chez lequel il rencontre Jean-Pierre Melville. Il se consacre dès lors à son métier de directeur de la photographie. Il travaille à ce titre sur les deux premiers longs métrages de Melville, Le Silence de la mer et Les Enfants terribles. Au fil des années, Melville et Decaë retravaillent ensemble à plusieurs reprises, notamment en 1967 sur Le Samouraï et en 1970 sur Le Cercle rouge.

À la fin des années 1950, Henri Decaë participe à trois des films fondateurs de la Nouvelle Vague: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud de Louis Malle, Le Beau Serge de Claude Chabrol et Les Quatre Cents Coups de François Truffaut.

Source: Article "Henri Decaë" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.