If you're looking for the most beautiful film ever made, one good place to start looking is La belle noiseuse (1991). It was shot by William Lubtchansky, and it's worth mentioning that because he just passed away recently, two days ago. And La belle noiseuse wasn't the only thing he shot, he's been a major cinematographer in French cinema since the early 1970s. He frequently worked with Jacques Rivette, who of course directed La belle noiseuse, and the last thing they did together was Around a Small Mountain (36 vues du Pic Saint Loup 2009), which I wrote about last year here. It in fact had three Lubtchansky's working on it. Nicole Lubtchansky edited it, as she usually does on Rivette's films, and co-cinematographer was Irina Lubtchansky. (I'm not sure about the relationships between the three.)
Besides Rivette he also worked with François Truffaut on The Woman Next Door (La femme d'à côté 1981) and with Claude Lanzmann on the documenary Shoah (1985).
That's some career.
