Photographer Raymond Cauchetier's best shot

This was taken on the set of Jules et Jim in 1962. The scene was an old-style French boxing match between Jules and Jim. Someone on the set turned a radio on in the break and it was playing one of Strauss's waltzes. The actors, Oskar Werner and Henri Serre, heard the music and in an instant the gym was transformed into a kind of village dance. Obviously there was the potential for a nice shot. The abandoned boxing glove, on the floor down to the right, looked like it might play a part, too, and I framed the picture accordingly.

This kind of photograph is uncontrollable, of course. You have to be ready, to anticipate, because by the time it takes for your brain to tell your finger to activate the shutter, the moment has gone. I love the balance in their gestures. But if you look at the contact sheet you'll see there were plenty of pictures that were less successful.

My approach to set photography was really that of a photojournalist. Stills photography then was purely for publicity purposes; I was interested in the film-making process. I didn't want to shoot what the movie cameras were filming.

For this shot I used a smaller format Linhof with a Zeiss Tessar lens. My usual camera was a 2¼-inch Rolleiflex: large format, incredibly robust. You could drop a Rolleiflex in a river – I did, in the Mekong – and it would still work. Most photographers then were using 35mm Leicas, of course, but I didn't like them; the image was five times smaller than a Rollei, and the body was too fragile. In fact, I once turned down an invitation from Cartier-Bresson to join Magnum because I would have had to use a Leica. I don't regret it, though I might be rather better known now if I had said yes.

CV

Born: 1920, Paris.

Studied: Self-taught. Became unofficial photographer of the French new wave on Godard's A Bout de Souffle.

Inspirations: Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson.

High point: A two-month tourism shoot in Cambodia in 1967, at the invitation of the king.

Low point: Being frozen out of set photography in 1968 by new wave cameraman Raoul Coutard.