Robby Müller, NSC, BVK, (4 April 1940 – 3 July 2018) was a Dutch cinematographer. Known for his use of natural light and minimalist imagery, Müller first gained recognition for his contributions to West German cinema through his acclaimed collaborations with Wim Wenders.
Through the course of his career, he worked closely with directors Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Peter Bogdanovich, Barbet Schroeder, and Lars Von Trier, the latter with whom he pioneered the use of digital cinematography. His work earned him numerous accolades and admiration from his peers. He died on 3 July 2018, aged 78, having suffered from vascular dementia for several years.
Life and work
Müller was born in Curaçao in 1940, and moved to Amsterdam in 1953. He studied at the Netherlands Film Academy from 1962 to 1964. He worked as cinematographer on a number of shorts before collaborating with Wim Wenders on his first feature, Summer in the City (1970). They made many more films together, such as Alice in the Cities (1974), Kings of the Road (1976), The American Friend (1977) and Paris, Texas (1984).
Apart from the movies with Wenders, Müller contributed to both mainstream U.S. productions and independent films. His other work included Joan Micklin Silver's Finnegan Begin Again (1984), the hazy, yellow-tinted cinematography of William Friedkin's To Live and Die in LA (1985), Sally Potter's The Tango Lesson (1997), Dom Rotheroe's My Brother Tom (2001), Lars von Trier's starkly shot films Breaking the Waves (1996) and Dancer in the Dark (2000), and Jim Jarmusch's gritty-looking films Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Dead Man (1995) and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999).
He died on 3 July 2018 at the age of 78.
On 4 September 2018, the movie Living the Light - Robby Müller premiered at the Venice Film Festival. This documentary by Claire Pijman is a visual essay about the life and work of Robby Müller. On 4 October 2019, the documentary was awarded a Golden Calf for Best Long Documentary at the Netherlands Film Festival.
Filmography
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
|rowspan="2"|1970||Summer in the City
|Wim Wenders||
|-
|Jonathan
|rowspan="2"|Hans W. Geißendörfer||
|-
|rowspan="2"|1971||Carlos||
|-
|Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter
|rowspan="2"|Wim Wenders||
|-
|rowspan="2"|1973||The Scarlet Letter
|
|-
|Trip to Vienna
|Edgar Reitz
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|1974
|Alice in the Cities
|Wim Wenders
|
|-
|Perahim – die zweite Chance
|Hans W. Geißendörfer
|
|-
|Ein bißchen Liebe
|Veith von Fürstenberg
|
|-
|1975
|The Wrong Move
|rowspan="2"|Wim Wenders
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|1976
|Kings of the Road
|
|-
|Die Wildente
|Hans W. Geißendörfer
|
|-
|'
|Peter Lilienthal
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|1977
|The American Friend
|Wim Wenders
|
|-
|The Left-Handed Woman
|Peter Handke
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|1978
|The Glass Cell
|Hans W. Geißendörfer
|
|-
|Mysteries
|Paul de Lussanet
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1979
|In for Treatment
|Marja Kok<br>Erik van Zuylen
|
|-
|Saint Jack
|Peter Bogdanovich||
|-
||1980||Honeysuckle Rose
|Jerry Schatzberg||
|-
||1981||They All Laughed
|Peter Bogdanovich||
|-
|1982
|Een zwoele zomeravond
|Shireen Strooker<br>Frans Weisz
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|1983
|Un dimanche de flic
|Michel Vianey
|
|-
|'
|Peter Stein
|
|-
|Les îles
|Iradj Azimi
|
|-
|rowspan="5"|1984||Repo Man
|Alex Cox||
|-
|Paris, Texas
|Wim Wenders
|
|-
| Finnegan Begin Again
| Joan Micklin Silver
| HBO TV movie with Robert Preston, Mary Tyler Moore, and Sylvia Sidney
|-
|Body Rock
|Marcelo Epstein
|
|-
|Cheaters (Tricheurs)
|Barbet Schroeder
|
|-
|1985
|To Live and Die in L.A.
|William Friedkin
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|1986
|The Longshot
|Paul Bartel
|
|-
|Down by Law
|Jim Jarmusch
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|1987
|Barfly
|Barbet Schroeder
|
|-
|The Believers
|John Schlesinger
|
|-
|1988
|The Little Devil
|Roberto Benigni
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1989
|Mystery Train
|Jim Jarmusch
|
|-
|Notebook on Cities and Clothes
|Wim Wenders
|Documentary film
|-
|1990
|Korczak
|Andrzej Wajda
|
|-
|1991
|Until the End of the World
|Wim Wenders
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|1993
|Mad Dog and Glory
|John McNaughton
|
|-
|When Pigs Fly
|Sara Driver
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|1995
|Beyond the Clouds
|Michelangelo Antonioni<br>Wim Wenders
|
|-
|Dead Man
|Jim Jarmusch
|
|-
|Last Call
|Frans Weisz
|
|-
|1996
|Breaking the Waves
|Lars von Trier
|
|-
|1997
|The Tango Lesson
|Sally Potter
|
|-
|1998
|Shattered Image
|Raúl Ruiz
|
|-
|1999
|Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
|Jim Jarmusch
|
|-
|2000
|Dancer in the Dark
|Lars von Trier
|
|-
|2001
|My Brother Tom
|Dom Rotheroe
|
|-
|2002
|24 Hour Party People
|Michael Winterbottom
|
|-
|2003
|Coffee and Cigarettes
|Jim Jarmusch
|Short film compilation
|}
Awards and nominations
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Award/Nomination
|-
|1975
|The Wrong Move
|German Film Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|1977
|The American Friend
|Nominated - NSFC Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|1983
|'
|German Film Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|1984
|Paris, Texas
|Bavarian Film Award for Best Cinematography<br>German Camera Award for Best Feature Film
|-
|1986
|Down by Law
|Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography<br>Nominated - NSFC Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|1987
|Barfly
|Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|1989
|Mystery Train
|Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|1990
|Korczak
|German Film Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|1995
|Dead Man
|NSFC Award for Best Cinematography<br>NYFCC Award for Best Cinematographer<br>Nominated - CFCA Award for Best Cinematography<br>Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|1996
|Breaking the Waves
|NSFC Award for Best Cinematography<br>NYCC Award for Best Cinematographer<br>Robert Award for Best Cinematography<br>Camerimage Best Independent Duo<br>Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Cinematography<br>Nominated - Camerimage Golden Frog Award<br>Nominated - BSFC Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|2000
|Dancer in the Dark
|Nominated - Robert Award for Best Cinematography
|-
|}
References
Interview with Robby Muller (Dutch and English)