American Cinematographer - May 2021 - 21

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER ASCMAG.COM

Charlotte Bruus Christensen, ASC
directs and shoots a " rethinking "
of Black Narcissus.
By Patricia Thomson

OPENING PHOTO BY OM YADAV, OTHERS BY MIYA MIZUNO.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF FX.

harlotte Bruus Christensen, ASC spent her childhood on a dairy farm in her native country of Denmark, and it was those early experiences that first
sparked her interest in creating visual narratives.
" I had horses, and my dad had land and cows, " she
says. " We were all part of doing the farm work, and
I quite enjoyed it - mostly. I'm a bit of a farmer
still, I think! However, when I wasn't in school or doing work at the
farm or with the horses, the camera was my go-to [activity]. I remember stealing my parents' camera, and I would take 10 or 15 stills and
make them into a little story. They were always something about the
farm - like the harvest might not come in, and the money people
would turn up, and we'd have to give them the keys to the farm. I'd
have my brothers or my dad put on shiny shoes, and they'd be this
character. "
Later in her youth, a riding companion - Hans Erik Philip, a film
composer who had bought property from Christensen's father - put
her on the path to cinematography. While telling Christensen about
his job, he informed the neophyte photographer that there were
people who shoot films for a living. " He was the one who told me,
'You know, there's actually a job where you do what you're running
around doing for fun,' " she says.
Today, as an accomplished director of photography with 33 cinematography credits, Christensen cites two particular features as
turning points in her career. The Hunt (AC Aug. '13), the second of
three films she's shot for Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, brought
her acclaim at Cannes, where her subtle, naturalistic cinematography
earned the festival's Vulcain Award for the Technical Artist. Then, in
2016, she shot her first American studio film, The Girl on the Train.
" That movie opened the door to a wider and somehow different film
industry than the one I had experienced in Europe. It also introduced
me to a whole new set of wonderful working relationships [with people] I'm still very close to. No doubt, making your first studio movie is
a big step in a filmmaker's career. "
Now making her first foray into directing a major release, Christensen picked a project that might have put the fear of God into lesser
souls: Black Narcissus. The 1947 feature version - co-directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and shot by Jack Cardiff, BSC
- ranks among the most beloved Technicolor treasures of all time.
(See Wrap Shot, page 72.) Plus, Christensen was attempting to scale
the saga's heights while serving as director, cinematographer and
A-camera operator. " It was of course very busy wearing these hats,
but it made a lot of sense in terms of my background, and once the
crew and I found our working routines, it actually felt pretty natural, "
she says. " There were some intense days, for sure, but thinking back,
it felt pretty smooth.
" I don't really like the word 'remake,' " she's quick to add. " You simply cannot 'remake' the 1947 masterpiece by Powell and Pressburger, but we could rethink it - and in a new format, as a three-part
MAY 2021 / 21

p.20-27 Black Narcissus V3 DONE.indd 21

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American Cinematographer - May 2021

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