Laurent Desmet

French cinematographer Laurent Desmet was still studying his craft at the FEMIS film school when he shot the 1995 short "Premiéres lueurs du jour" for Didier Blasco. In 2000, he made his feature bow with Jean-Paul Civeyrac's sibling drama "Les Solitaires." But the bulk of Desmet's credits over the next few years were shorts, as he teamed twice with director Roland Edzard on "La Plaine" and "Yeux" and photographed "I Patania" and "J'ai besoin d'air" for Christina Hadjizachariou and Natacha Samuel. He also joined forces with dps Olivier Guéneau and Damien Marquet for Alain Fleischer's 2007 documentary, "Fragments of Conversation with Jean-Luc Godard." In 2004, Desmet had filmed Philippe Ramos's short Herman Melville adaptation "Capitaine Achab" and when, three years later, it was expanded to feature length, he again undertook the camera chores. Similarly, he lensed Sarah Petit's 2009 romantic drama "A Real Life" six years after working on the medium-length "Le Lac et la riviére." Subsequently, Desmet shared a credit with Simon Beaufils on "A Virus in the City," Cédric Venail's profile of the French-Israeli artist Absalon. But his most enduring collaboration has been with romcom specialist Emmanuel Mouret, as he contrasted chic Parisian interiors with bleak seascapes in "Change of Address," bookended the capital flashback with Nantes episodes in "Shall We Kiss?" and devised the flattened medium shots that showcased the Keatonesque precision of the slapstick in "Please, Please Me."