Description

Sequel to the 1960's film classic finds former script girl-turned producer reuniting with race car driver on the Paris-Dakar rally. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Pick Up the Pieces
Interesting film in that it shows the same actors - Anouk and Jean Louis playing the same roles twenty years later. It's interesting to see how they both have changed. BTW: Jean Louis is terrific as the Brain in City of the Lost Children. Great to hear both actors in their native tongue as compared to the original A Man and A Woman which is only available in the States in a dubbed English version. I watch that film with the sound off! This follow up movie displays Director Claude Lelouch kinetic camera work with some nice visuals on movie sets, in Paris, in North African Desert and back to Deauville the site of the original A Man and A Woman. Francis Lai, the composer add alittle Jazzy flavor to the soundtrack. Unfortunately the story is like a puzzle with the missing pieces. Still I enjoyed the film because I really can not watch the original in a dubbed version! Bloody awful! For a better Claude Lelouch film, I recommend his version of Les Miserables with Jean Paul Belmondo. Great story, great visuals and original language and with all the pieces together!

Worth watching if you really liked the original movie.
Not as good as the original movie, but worth watching if you want to catch up with the characters twenty years later. Interesting to see how their children have grown up (good casting - daughter looks very much like Anouk Aimee). The "movie within a movie" is dull - watch it the first time, then fast forward for later viewings. The ending is satisfactory, but I would have liked to have seen Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant on screen together more. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This brilliant film manages to reinterpret the story of Victor Hugo'sclassic novel, critique it, and investigate the nature of art and life on top ofthat--all in three hours that zip past, fueled by the dynamic performance ofFrench icon Jean-Paul Belmondo (Breathless, Le Doulos). In 1900,Henri Fortin (Belmondo) is wrongfully imprisoned for murder; his loyal wife isforced into menial labor and prostitution; then in the beginning of World WarII, Fortin's son (Belmondo again) helps a Jewish family elude the Nazis, settingin motion his own imprisonment, escape, and adventures as a criminal. Not onlyis that just the first half of the movie, there are also the story lines of thehusband, wife, and daughter of the Jewish family, who each have their ownstruggles. The conclusion is joyous and heartbreaking. Director Claude Lelouch(A Man and a Woman) handles the entire movie with supreme skill, humor,and compassion. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (24)

A grand romantic gesture
Claude Lelouch's audacious and exciting epic is neither a film version of the long-running musical nor a traditional adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel. Rather, it is a sweeping and sensationally passionate drama that succeeds brilliantly on its own merits as a celebration of storytelling (and, of course, moviemaking) as inspiration and illumination. A magnificently ravaged Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Henri Fortin, an ordinary man whose life spans an extraordinary period in French history: Born at the turn of the century, he lives long enough to endure the cruelties of the Nazi occupation. Rootless and illiterate, he is introduced to "Les Miserables" at an early age -- in a silent movie! -- and embraces Jean Valjean as his hero, mentor and alter ego. So much so, in fact, that Henri agrees to help a Jewish family escape from Paris, setting into motion a fateful series of betrayals, reconciliations, reversals of fortune and triumphs of the spirit. There are images in "Les Miserables" that are as hauntingly beautiful as any in the history of cinema. And there are entire sequences that are nothing short of astonishing. Lelouch is one of the few contemporary filmmakers who remains capable of the grand romantic gestures that made many of us fall in love with movies in the first place.

One of the greatest films ever made.
This is one of the greatest films ever made. Mark my words. History will bear me out. Acclaimed French filmmaker Claude Lelouch, whose classic examinations of intimate emotions include the Oscar-nominated "A Man and A Woman," paints a sweeping portrait of the human condition in his epic drama "Les Miserables," a twentieth-century tale inspired by the nineteenth-century masterpiece of French writer Victor Hugo. Lelouch's "Les Miserables" focuses on two French families who struggle, hope, suffer and ultimately find love and friendship in the face of nearly insurmountable odds.

The film stars international acting legend Jean-Paul Belmondo as Henri Fortin, a humble man whose life takes him through some of the most important events of contemporary times. As he alternately rises to heroism and sinks to criminal desperation, Fortin's existence mirrors the struggle between good and evil that illuminates Victor Hugo's character, Jean Valjean.

When Fortin meets and befriends the wealthy, intellectual Ziman family (Michel Boujenah, Alessandra Martines and Salome) who are fleeing French and German Nazi persecution of the Jews, he builds an unusual friendship with the brilliant but desperate trio. And for the first time, he learns the story of Jean Valjean and comes to see himself as a real-life extension of Hugo's protagonist.

The Zimans read Les Miserables to the illiterate Fortin as he smuggles them across the country, and by the time their momentous journey is finally complete, they have all come to realize their roles in the parallel epics of literature and life.

With a stellar cast that includes Annie Giradot, Philippe Leotard and Clementine Celarie, Claude Lelouch incorporates vignettes from Fortin's past, from the lives of Fortin's and Lelouch's own parents and from Hugo's novel into the saga, spanning generations and delineating his-and Fortin's-belief that, in the words of Willa Cather, "there are only two or three stories in the world and we must all live them over and over."

"Les Miserables," written, produced and directed by Claude Lelouch, and freely adapted from the novel by Victor Hugo, begins at the start of the twentieth century, with a glittering New Year's celebration that soon leads to a man's suicide. Before we know it, another man-the lowly Fortin-is convicted of murder and serving time in a cruel prison.

The prison scenes were filmed at Fort Joux, a real jail hundreds of years old. The forbidding setting brought a sense of gravity to all of the actors and an air of timelessness to the story of man's eternal suffering on Earth.

Meanwhile, Fortin's adoring wife and young son await his release and try their best to survive until they are re-united. However, it is not to be. Fortin suffers in jail and dies, and his wife is turned to prostitution by the venal innkeepers who employ her. The young Henri lives a miserable existence, swallowed by sorrow, until he is taught to box.

After Henri Fortin leaves the inn and becomes a young soldier, the viewer encounters him about to begin a boxing match in an open hospital courtyard. He is surrounded by hundreds of wounded World War I soldiers; the year is 1918 and snow is falling heavily, giving the scene a hallucinatory air. Before the fight can begin, the end of the war is announced, and the soldiers begin joyously chanting "Fortin, Fortin!"

Scene after scene of spectacle and personal revelation follow, spanning decades and moving from elegant drawing rooms to wartime prisons to expansive outdoor landscapes. As the Nazi occupation of France begins to cast its shadow over the country, town after town and peaceful countrysides as well are transformed into terrifying traps for the Zimans and the thousands of other French Jewish families. The Zimans travel by train, by truck and by car, hiding in small towns and under floorboards, far from their beautiful home and fearing death every minute.

As they flee one house, merely steps ahead of their pursuers, they find themselves in the hands of Henri Fortin, and at the beginning of a friendship that is as strong as it is unlikely. Throughout the enormous events that follow for all of them, the focus remains on the personal fortunes, emotions and actions of the people who so fascinated Lelouch and his creative predecessor, Victor Hugo.

Many years after his sad childhood, Fortin returns to the Guillaumes' inn as an adult, accompanied by three criminal accomplices, known as Addition, Blame and Bonnard (Ticky Holgado, Antoine Dulery and Jacques Bonnot). Fortin is pained by the memories of the treatment that sent his mother to her death, and determined to confront the brutal innkeepers who were responsible. But once he arrives he learns that the Guillaumes have died and their son and grandson, a much kinder duo, now run the inn.

After spending the night at the inn, Fortin's group awakes to discover Allied ships lining the horizon. Though they are thrilled by this development, their happiness quickly turns to terror as they find themselves the target of a vicious shelling. Fortin once again demonstrates heroism in, ironically, defending the inn.

This is a film made by an artist at the zenith of his powers. The breadth and scope of this film reaches a level very rarely seen, and is usually accomplished by a director who has reached the age where his life's experiences, knowledge of the artistry of cinema and imaginative fortitude all mesh to create an act of pure magic. Think of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny & Alexander, Akira Kurasawa's Kagemusha, or Laurence Olivier's King Lear. The way every scene, character, episode, even the music is integrated is absolutely flawless. It is equal parts funny, despairing, poignant, courageous, thoroughly engrossing, beautifully photographed, supremely edited, perfectly paced. The casting of Jean-Paul Belmondo, with his hounddog face, as Jean Valjean is a stroke of genius because he is so genuinely able to show confusion, delight, joy, understanding, patience, anger, practically EVERY human emotion there is, which Hugo used and Lelouch utilizes, so brilliantly. And the beautiful French actress Alessandra Martines, who has not done as much acting in her life as she has dancing, gets the honor of embodying the film's climax, which is one of the most satisfying emotional conclusions I've ever seen.

Beautifully Artistic Film
Where to begin?

The piano music is so dramatic and appealing to the situations. Is the piece the German fellow plays a Mahler composition? Sounds like Mahler. Email me if you know! :)

The recurring themes might be hard to pick up on the first time you view the film...re-watching is greatly recommended.

The plight of La Resistance as well as the Jews is artistically overlapping in betrayal, greed, and especially rage.

Most importantly, for me, is the urge to simply cry. The pathos in this film are so common and low that anyone could empathize with the characters. But, in their misery, they lived a life of perpetual memory making. We should be so lucky to have a such a meaningful existence as the ones who have died and fought to keep their lineage alive.

dissapointed
However excellent Liam Neeson's version is, I insist that I asked for the one with Jean Paul Belmondo, the French one. I hate it when I have no choice over things. I was given the same treatment with 'Around the World in 80 Days.' I asked for D.Niven's version, and I was sent a cartoon one(!)

The Greatest Movie in history
I loved the movie. It is one of the best movie ever made. It potrays a parallel with les miserables and it shows history in World War 2. One of the best movies. ... Read more

Amazon.com

French filmmaker Claude Lelouch continues to take critical heat for this 1966 international hit, which has been labeled "schmaltzy" and dismissed as overly stylized for its simple story line. While it certainly can't be mistaken for a masterpiece of the French New Wave (Lelouch was left in the dust that year by such wonders as Jean-Luc Godard'sMasculin Feminin), A Man and a Woman has a jumpy impressionism that engages a viewer precisely because it cuts against conventional expectations of romance. Starring Anouk Aimée as a widowed "script girl" (working in film production) and Jean-Louis Trintignant as a racer who lost his wife to suicide, the film is really an objective sampling--almost a study--of moments between the time the two characters meet and the point at which they begin to read each other intuitively. Generous flashbacks fill in details on the pair's woeful, recent histories, while endless documentary-like glimpses of Aimée's and Trintignant's characters at work in their highly charged professions become a visual engine for the days passing between measured developments in love. Lelouch is more dryly humane than lush in his approach, though the film strains once in a while for a forced naturalism that can actually be more narcissistic than the most obvious romantic contrivance. Still, A Man and a Woman--in the best sense--is also a movie in love with itself, with its own ability to evoke and conjure and construct dozens of different ways of tracking a relationship in progress. If Lelouch doesn't exactly push open the boundaries of cinema as several of his filmmaking peers did at the time, he certainly enjoys what he's doing. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (41)

5 stars for the ORIGINAL FRENCH version
And this ain't it. But it's all we got for now, so heh.

"Un Homme et une Femme" holds up quite well some 32 years hence. Younger viewers may not realize that a lot of the montage devices and tricks that may seem 'dated' were actually popularized and/or invented herein by Claude Lelouch. I actually found myself rewinding to watch the color sections a couple of times, especially the mid-film sequence scored to Francis Lai's achingly sentimental and lovely "Stronger than Us" as Anouk Aimee (the world's most beautiful woman) and Jean-Louis Triginant stroll the Deauville shore and muse on art and life. The tinting and grain of those sections - the boat ride, Anouk remembering her dead husband (Pierre Barouh) as he sings "Samba Saravah" to her - set a trend I pine for again.

The story? Well, thin, even by today's lughead standards (widower and widow fall in love against some lovely French scenery shot in winter), but it's obvious Lelouch was going for something that was quite new, then: a marriage of film and music that was not a "musical" per se, but rather, the forerunner of MTV (well, MTV with a soul, let's say). Cut loosely but thankfully not on-the-beat to Lai's jazzy/lush mid-60s score, Lelouch suceeds darn well. The freeze-frame ending cued to the final electric piano note, and that moment when Anouk Aimee pauses for the longest time and says to Jean-Louis, "You never told me about your wife", are two of my favorite filmgoing moments.

"Un Homme et une Femme" is emblematic of a world-view which I, for one, wish would take hold of folks again and topple the psychotic-trash-nihilistic consciousness now dominating pop culture. It was thoughtful, romantic, inward and outward at once, loving of sentiment but not wallowing in sentimentality, sophisticated, in love with love and with being alive in the world... not afraid of seeming tender. If any of this strikes you as square or passe or naive, then, this ain't your movie.

Let's hope the DVD gets released in French. Daria could use some alternative programming to 'Sick,Sad World', as could some of the rest of us.

Beautiful audio & visual look at a developing relationship!!
First saw this movie when released many years ago. Saw it multiple times and came away refreshed each time. Original French language version is far superior to the English dubbed version. Have LP and CD in my personal collection. You may opt to add this to your collection as well. Not stale or overly predictable, just a wonderful look at two almost regular people who discover each other the same way Rodin sculpted...piece by wonderful piece. Real and romantic with lovely music that has been with me for well over twenty years. This film is a winner as it helps to reaffirm the value of love in our lives and the freedom we have to experience it when recognized.

Amour Toujours
I never would have visited France (especially the hilly Parisian town of Montmartre, where Aimee's Woman lives) or taken a second chance on love, on loving a man again, had I not viewed "Un Homme et Une Femme." I first rented the movie in my mid-20s and re-rented it (including the English-dubbed version on VHS, which I do not like) countless times before finally purchasing it.

Monsieur Lelouch's cinematic narrative technique is poignant in his artful use of black-and-white scenes to display the bare-naked truth of humanity and, especially, his use of vividly colorful scenes to capture haunting memories. How affecting are these sunlight-filled and music-laden memories, from the man's and the woman's quotidian moments with their now-dead loves-of-a-lifetime, as well as recollections of those spouses' demise to the couple's idyllic moments with their children in the resort town of Deauville. You might recall the "family's" day trip on "the boat" and the stroll along the shore. The film's contrasts are lovely, including: b&w vs. color; innocence (the pair's children) vs. experience (the pair themselves), etc. The most obvious counterpoint is male and female: Man vs. Woman; Boy vs. Girl {i.e., Antoine vs. Francoise). I also love the pair's stark reserve (think of the lack of emotion after they finish making love at the Normandy Hotel) vs. their effusive emotion (think about the uncontrolled happiness when Trintignant's Man drives many miles from the Montecarlo race, after unexpectedly winning and receiving a telegram from Aimee's Woman ending with, "I love you," to find his femme. When he does find her, with the help of the children's boarding-school teacher, she is playing with les enfants on the beach. He steps out of his winning racecar, not caring how dirty it is after driving north from the South of France, and flashes his headlights. How beautiful it is when all four of them begin smiling, laughing and spinning around in absolute wonder and happiness -- all to the dream-scat score from Francis Lai's vibrant imagination. When I am feeling happy, my mind turns to that "dubba-dubba-da" theme. Does yours, too?

The images, the language (ah-h-h, le francais!), the romance the music and the fashions, plus the many messages, both subtle and concrete, of the importance of truth and frankness in the existence of love, the wholeness of Beingness and the desire to live in the present (and love the one you're with) -- all of this makes "Un Homme et Une Femme" a film that I and many others will cherish forever.

An Artistically Good Movie
The movie details a widow and a widower looking for romance by a chance of encountering one another. Both are dealing with the loss of a spouse. The movie goes back and forth into time as to how their spouses have died and she has this image of him being a pimp when he doesn't go into detail about his career. He doesn't want to instill fear into her. She lost her husband on a movie set. One minute the movie is in black and white. The next minute, it's in color, like their love for each other. It may seem boring to some viewers because they expect something more dramatizing to happen or some sort of sexual tension and passion which is not what the movie is about. The movie without the excessiveness was just fine and easy to watch. I wasn't bored watching the movie. The fashion and makeup of the sixties was cool.

So Romantic! (A 4.3 on a scale of 1 to 5)
"A Man and a Woman" is the quintessential French movie from the 60's. It's a love story (of course), it has a soundtrack that you'll recognize immediately, it's got Anouk Aimee.

The plot-if it could even be called that-is simple. A man and a woman meet at their children's boarding school. The man drives the woman back to Paris...and then back and forth to the school again the next Sunday. During these drives, they disclose their tragic, painful pasts: both have recently been widowed. Eventually they become closer and closer until they can almost read each other thoughts. The movie is about many small moments-flashbacks to their respective marriages, their glamourous jobs (she's a movie editor, he's a race car driver), their interactions with their children. The movie jumps from black and white to color, from present to past, from silence to that theme music.
Yes there are some schmaltzy moments...lots of running on the beach with the theme music under it. Still it is beautiful to look at, beautifully acted...and just so romantic! ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Love is a dream
I have looked forward to seeing this movie for over a year; ever since I heard Ms. Kaas' music from the movie last summer. I was not disappointed. Jeremy Irons was wonderfully handsome. Patricia Kaas was as beautiful as her voice. I loved the multiple story lines and characters. Claude Lelouch has another winner.

Unbelievable and Exciting
This movie is beautiful and exciting. The songs of Patricia Kaas (I went out and sent for two of her discs as soon as I got home from the theatre)as well as her acting is superb. Jeremy Irons is also excellent. The movie goes back and forth in time but just as I began to consider it was confusing, everything fell into a dynamic place. I only wish this film were in more than limited release. The locales of the film: Morocco and places in Europe were breathtaking. THE MOVIE IS POETRY.

What Is The Dream and What Is Simply A Memory Of The Future?
And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen begins with the following epigraph: "Life is a deep sleep, and love is the dream." With that characterization as his point of departure, Claude Lelouch (who produced, wrote and directed this quiet masterpiece) provides an utterly sophisticated two hour cinematic meditation on all of the subtle ways reality, memory, and dreamlife intersect to create the verisimilitude of the present and a fantasy of what is to come. The narrative for this visually breathtaking excursion into metaphysics and the psychology of love centers on Jeremy Irons as Valentin Valentin (he was born on Valentine's Day), a whimsically inventive jewel thief who relies on disguise and deception to ply his trade. But a large and growing tumour of the brain is playing its own set of tricks on the master illusionist. In a parallel universe Valentin's destiny is tracked by that of a Parisian chanteuse, Jane Lester (Patricia Kaas), who also may be afflicted with a brain mass that is affecting her ability to discern what is real from what is imagined. The two cross paths in Fez at the halfway point of the film as each in their own way runs aground upon the hallucinatory shores of the primitive, light-blasted landscape which is Morocco. And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen is European cinema at its most disarming. Evocative and convincing, the film propels you on a journey you would rather not see come to an end. When Valentin's maritime tour around the world (which had been disrupted by his illness) begins in earnest just as the film is coming to its conclusion, I felt deprived to be left behind.

A Lovely Escapist Venture
Claude Lelouche has once again teamed with Michel Legrand to continue his examination of the vagaries of love in AND NOW LADIES & GENTLEMEN. There is a Gallic magic about Lelouche's view of love that is irresistible and this rather long film journey is no exception. Jeremy Irons is a thief who creates sophisticated heists of jewels by adopting disguises. He is jaunty, loves the beautiful things in life, and decides to spend his won money to sail a yacht on a long-dreamed journey. While at sea he has his first blackout which we later learn is due to a brain tumor. He is taken ashore in Morocco where he encounters a lounge singer (Patricia Kaas) who likewise is subject to blackouts and has strayed to Morocco after the end of an affair with a trumpet player. Together they plan a pilgrimage to a site of healing, but Irons' character is followed by the police for his jewel heists and is captured, is unable to remember his thefts, and finally is diagnosed as having a brain tumor. Postop he reconciles with his singer and makes amends for his life of crime.

As with all of Lelouche's films there are episodes that blur dreamlife with reality and in this film he uses this technique to perfection. Much of what really happens is left to the individual's perception. The settings for this escapade are truly splendid - Morocco has never looked so dreamy, so dramatic, so sun-drenched and inviting. The real joy of this film are the performances of Irons and Kaas and the added pleasure of seeing old (!) faces from the past such as Claudia Cardinale - no longer the beauty she once was! Patricia Kaas is a very fine singer and her renditions of old standards take on new substance in her sensitive interpretations. The only flaw in this film is that it is filmed in both English and French and the dubbing barely matches the subtitles. That is very distracting. But forgive that and you have a film that will let you take flight - lightly as with an elegant French aperitif!

SHEER PLEASURE
We first saw this film in a movie theatre and we were so captivated by it that we ordered the DVD. Granted, Jeremy Irons was my impetus for going to the movie but what a treat to discover Patricia Kaas. Her voice is unbelievably beautiful plus she is a gorgeous chanteuse.

The scenery, especially in Morocco, is beautiful. The minor roles are extremely well cast from a lascivious bartender to a wealthy ladies man. A well written and witty script adds to the enjoyment.

Granted, the ending does seem a mite contrived but what a pleasure it was to get there. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Pick Up the Pieces
Interesting film in that it shows the same actors - Anouk and Jean Louis playing the same roles twenty years later. It's interesting to see how they both have changed. BTW: Jean Louis is terrific as the Brain in City of the Lost Children. Great to hear both actors in their native tongue as compared to the original A Man and A Woman which is only available in the States in a dubbed English version. I watch that film with the sound off! This follow up movie displays Director Claude Lelouch kinetic camera work with some nice visuals on movie sets, in Paris, in North African Desert and back to Deauville the site of the original A Man and A Woman. Francis Lai, the composer add alittle Jazzy flavor to the soundtrack. Unfortunately the story is like a puzzle with the missing pieces. Still I enjoyed the film because I really can not watch the original in a dubbed version! Bloody awful! For a better Claude Lelouch film, I recommend his version of Les Miserables with Jean Paul Belmondo. Great story, great visuals and original language and with all the pieces together!

Worth watching if you really liked the original movie.
Not as good as the original movie, but worth watching if you want to catch up with the characters twenty years later. Interesting to see how their children have grown up (good casting - daughter looks very much like Anouk Aimee). The "movie within a movie" is dull - watch it the first time, then fast forward for later viewings. The ending is satisfactory, but I would have liked to have seen Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant on screen together more. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The film is well made and well acted.
I liked all the parts of this film. The characters were perfect. The plot was smooth and interesting throughout even though this was the second time I've seen the movie. I like the casual chat and the train noise that reminds one that Claude Lelouch believes in realistic sounds as part of the background. Like the "princess" in the film the viewer is charmed; however, only the viewer (besides the bandit) knows what is actually taking place in the Opera House and why. The movie engages the audience's attention. In the end, all dishonorable characters prove they do have a familial code of honor. And the princess proves that she is truly a princess. ... Read more

Reviews (30)

Stunning, Fasten your seat-belts !
Ok, I don't care what anyone says, I think Rendezvous is one of the best drives in the history of film. Nothing has, nor will, come close to the excellence of Claude LeLouch's amazing 9 minute film.

Apparently, LeLouch hired "spotters" to tell him if their was any coming traffic. Even so, it was still extremely dangerous for himself and the spotters.

'Rendezvous', its original title is C'etait Un Rendezvous, will leave you stunned by the end.

Sadly, the NTSC VHS was deleted some years ago. A new PAL ( Europe ) DVD and Video are available at SpiritLevelFilm.com. People in the US will probably not be able to play the VHS, but any multi-region DVD player should be able to play the DVD version. It is certified PG, which means Parental Guidance for some scenes.

A must buy film.

Buy Now !

Yes, the DVD is NTSC (Region 0) and widescreen too!
I just picked up the DVD through the rendezvousdvd.com website, and can confirm it plays just fine on United States NTSC DVD players. The DVD cost me about 25 United States dollars, including shipping from Great Britain, and arrived about a week after I ordered it. The picture quality is really only about VHS level. But considering it was filmed very early in the morning (note all the garbage trucks!) and the camera was car-mounted, I'm not sure the original film was exactly reference quality. The DVD is widescreen and in color, but it is not anamorphic. The sound is great - very crisp and clean. If, after watching this movie, you don't want to hop in a sports car and take off, there's something wrong with you! On a dollars per minute basis, this may be one of the most expensive DVDs available, but it's worth every penny!

Rendezvous DVD is NTSC!
The DVD available in Europe is NTSC and will play fine in the US as it is also region 0. See www.rendezvousdvd.com.

Hope this helps someone.

Amazing
I just purchased the DVD of this through another website and I must say all of the hype I heard about it was true. I had heard about this movie for years from friends and I finally was able to see it for myself. This is truely amazing film. The myth that surrounds the movie only make it more enjoyable, but whipping through early morning Paris with the sounds of the V12 roaring make this a film that must be watched. It is simply a piece of driving artistry that almost anyone could appreciate. Whether or not you purchase it, everyone should see it. Without a doubt the most amazing 9 minutes of film, I have ever seen. White-knuckle film.

Rendezvous
For anyone who has been to Paris and, perhaps, secretly desires to tear around city streets at 160+ m/h in a Ferrari about 5:00 A.M. Format must have clarity of effect is lessened, but still, a kick in the pants. If you don't like this, check your pulse and sell your bed. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

And I think the ending is still charming!
I, too, had only seen the American "video" version (not sure what version that would be, as I understand there to be more than "two" versions of this film) and was all jazzed by the final meeting in the airplane ending. But let me say that I think the "future" ending that everyone is all riled up about is quite charming and harmless. I mean, the set design is most impressive and there must be a cast of hundreds. And the music by Francis Lai is most appropriate: a show-y, operatic, future opus played out in its entirety without dialog.
So, vote one viewer here who thinks the "future" ending is darn cool and a welcome "addition" (though, again, I am not sure that this is even an "addition", but part of the original French version, which should be preferred).

DVD Version Disappointment!
My absolute all-time favorite film, which I've watched countless times over the last 20 years (taped from a televised version from the Bravo channel). Nothing could surpass the story of the inevitable meeting of the two primary characters of the film. And when they finally do meet - it has been a moment that has always given me the cold chills (in a good way).

With that said, this new DVD release is a thorough disappointment. Claude Lelouch, with all his lifetime of experience of film making has inexplicably chosen to restore nearly 20 minutes of footage that was edited out of the version that was generally released on video tape years ago. Thus making this current DVD version an over-bloated affair, ending in a mind-numbing 10 minute "life-in-the-future-unless-we-do-something-about-it-now" sequence. Sure, you can give some allowances that this film was a product of its time (originally released in 1974). But for Lelouch to self-indulgently insert back footage that completely destroys the momentum of what should be that "cold-chill" scene - well, I think I've said enough. Suffice it to say, a good film editor is worth his or her weight in gold.

Other "restored" scenes are fairly short, and don't really detract from the film; however the new English subtitles supplied with this release are questionable.

So, if you plan to buy this version (since the old video tape version has not been available for years!), make sure you know French, turn the subtitles off, and be ready to hit the fast forward button at the very end of the film.

Romance in a Time Capsule
From the opening shot, in black and white with titles, at the turn of the 20th Century, showing a cinematographer shooting with a windup camera on a tripod, (meeting and courting the grandmother of our soon to be female lead, Martha Keller) to the final color image 75 years later, we're enchanted watching through three generations as our two hope-to-God will-be-lovers, are being prepared through history, war, and the process of failing, overcoming, succeeding, and living through those years (1899 to 1975) to eventually, hopefully become the two mature adults who will someday meet, when they will be ready for each other. The filmmaking itself changes to conform with movie making history. When sound quickly follows, it follows in our film; in the forties, we have color, and on and on. One of the joys of rewatching this film is to notice how our peoples' paths cross, unbeknownst to them, throughout the film. You're like a kid, pulling for them to meet. I have seen this film 20 times and it's always brand new. This was Claude LeLouche's movie after "A Man and a Woman" and I'm always surprised most people have never even heard of it. It's a wonderful trip and my favorite film of all time. I was a working actress at the time I first saw it and if I could have, I'd have happily carried cables or props on any Claude LeLouche set. See it, by all means, and pretend you're going to see a 3 star movie so you won't be disappointed -- you know how THAT goes. I'm happy to share it with you. Post Script added after I actually viewed the DVD -- they've included an ending different from anything I've ever seen before, and you know I've seen it 20 times. Suddenly we're in some futuristic Stanley Kubrick/Buck Rogers world which they've apparently extropolated from an earlier scene with a futurist. It's long and tedious, possibly 5 minutes long, before it finally gets back to the ending with which I'm familiar. So, 5 stars with the old ending; only 3 as they're playing it out now. Sorry about that.

A Film Lovers Feast...
Where to begin...it is a story about love at first sight where the principles do not meet until the screen credits are rolling...it goes back three generations to show who and what made these two so perfect for each other...it is a history of the development of film...there are scenes and film techinques used that were the first of their kind at the time...there is just soooo much story here...enjoy and prepare to love this film,it is a film lovers feast. Bravo Claude LeLouche!!!

"And now, my love" - Synopsis
The first scene: a photographer and a pretty lady falling in love at first sight. The second scene: the lady giving birth to a son. The third: a letter arriving to the front - it is the First World War - and a soldier looking for the letter's addressee. He finds him. The letter is read. The reader shouts: "it is a boy!" and then a bomb falls and kills him. The forth scene: the war is over. A train brings back survivors. The lady and the boy, a few years old child, are left alone at the train station. Their beloved doesn't come back. Then they appear dressed in black and they get a medal.

Then a parallel story begins: a dancer, who is having a love affaire with an officer, marries his superior, the general. She gives birth to a girl. Her husband discovers who is the girl's father and kills the dancer.

A gap in time. A train appears - full of people coming back from concentration camps. HE and the photographer (remember the first scene?) are similar like two drops of water. SHE and the dancer look the same. HE is sitting in front of HER. They exchange names. They fall in love at first sight and get married. They have a baby girl. The mother is still very weak from concentration camps life. She dies while giving birth.

With the appearance of that train you suddenly discover that the photographer and his wife and the dancer and her husband, the general, were Jewish. This detail was unimportant in France at the beginning of the century until the Second World War. It becomes a crucial detail with this war.

The film shows that girl, Sarah, who was born after the war, growing up. Her father is very successful and becomes very rich. Every year, in her birthday party, we are told about the age of the State of Israel.

The girl is given everything she wants. She is terribly spoiled - a princess. At her 17th Birthday she wants her father to bring Gilbert Becaud, the singer, to sing at her birthday party. She falls in love with him. The singer leaves her very soon; she is left with a broken heart and tries to commit suicide by crashing with her car. She survives and her father takes her to a trip around the world. The father is a person of great life experience and special wisdom. During this trip he talks a lot to her. One of those chats is dedicated to Jerusalem, the heart of all monotheistic religions and the center of much conflict.

The girl appears as a typical member of the bourgeois post war generation: she doesn't find herself. She doesn't appreciate the trip. She doesn't give a dime for her father's wisdom and she is pretty nervous with him.

But after the trip she starts writing. First about her roots and then about what is happening to her. About boredom of life. About search for love - she doesn't find a suitable partner; she has many love affairs and even marries. But she gets divorced a few days after marriage.

At that time we are introduced to a new hero: a young boy. He has no background story because he is an orphan and he grew in public institutions. So his story starts when he is a boy - a small thief. He steals and runs away from the police but one day he is caught and goes to jail. In jail he - and we - are introduced to a group of very interesting people.

This boy runs away from jail hidden in a garbage truck but while he is rushing with a stolen car he clashes with the girl that was committing suicide. He is brought back to jail. After jail, a grown up man, he starts his way in the film industry. And he becomes a man of special wisdom.

He is seen fighting for survival and searching for love. He looks for a girl that sweetens her coffee with three teaspoons of sugar (as someone in jail said he must). When he likes a girl, it is the first question he asks her. But no one does.

The paths of our hero and heroine cross many times during the film. But they finally meet while sitting on two adjacent seats. The airplane is on its way to New York. She obviously asks for the third teaspoon of sugar and they fall in love at first sight

And he tells her how he imagines the future, how he plans to describe it in his next film: it is 2000. Children are born sick because of air pollution. Couples are allowed to have children only if they go to a special place that looks like heaven. It is a place full of couples that show much love one for the other. And our heroes appear there as one of the couples.

The film ends on the airplane. Our heroes plan to meet again. Love at first sight, didn't I say it already? ... Read more

Reviews (41)

5 stars for the ORIGINAL FRENCH version
And this ain't it. But it's all we got for now, so heh.

"Un Homme et une Femme" holds up quite well some 32 years hence. Younger viewers may not realize that a lot of the montage devices and tricks that may seem 'dated' were actually popularized and/or invented herein by Claude Lelouch. I actually found myself rewinding to watch the color sections a couple of times, especially the mid-film sequence scored to Francis Lai's achingly sentimental and lovely "Stronger than Us" as Anouk Aimee (the world's most beautiful woman) and Jean-Louis Triginant stroll the Deauville shore and muse on art and life. The tinting and grain of those sections - the boat ride, Anouk remembering her dead husband (Pierre Barouh) as he sings "Samba Saravah" to her - set a trend I pine for again.

The story? Well, thin, even by today's lughead standards (widower and widow fall in love against some lovely French scenery shot in winter), but it's obvious Lelouch was going for something that was quite new, then: a marriage of film and music that was not a "musical" per se, but rather, the forerunner of MTV (well, MTV with a soul, let's say). Cut loosely but thankfully not on-the-beat to Lai's jazzy/lush mid-60s score, Lelouch suceeds darn well. The freeze-frame ending cued to the final electric piano note, and that moment when Anouk Aimee pauses for the longest time and says to Jean-Louis, "You never told me about your wife", are two of my favorite filmgoing moments.

"Un Homme et une Femme" is emblematic of a world-view which I, for one, wish would take hold of folks again and topple the psychotic-trash-nihilistic consciousness now dominating pop culture. It was thoughtful, romantic, inward and outward at once, loving of sentiment but not wallowing in sentimentality, sophisticated, in love with love and with being alive in the world... not afraid of seeming tender. If any of this strikes you as square or passe or naive, then, this ain't your movie.

Let's hope the DVD gets released in French. Daria could use some alternative programming to 'Sick,Sad World', as could some of the rest of us.

Beautiful audio & visual look at a developing relationship!!
First saw this movie when released many years ago. Saw it multiple times and came away refreshed each time. Original French language version is far superior to the English dubbed version. Have LP and CD in my personal collection. You may opt to add this to your collection as well. Not stale or overly predictable, just a wonderful look at two almost regular people who discover each other the same way Rodin sculpted...piece by wonderful piece. Real and romantic with lovely music that has been with me for well over twenty years. This film is a winner as it helps to reaffirm the value of love in our lives and the freedom we have to experience it when recognized.

Amour Toujours
I never would have visited France (especially the hilly Parisian town of Montmartre, where Aimee's Woman lives) or taken a second chance on love, on loving a man again, had I not viewed "Un Homme et Une Femme." I first rented the movie in my mid-20s and re-rented it (including the English-dubbed version on VHS, which I do not like) countless times before finally purchasing it.

Monsieur Lelouch's cinematic narrative technique is poignant in his artful use of black-and-white scenes to display the bare-naked truth of humanity and, especially, his use of vividly colorful scenes to capture haunting memories. How affecting are these sunlight-filled and music-laden memories, from the man's and the woman's quotidian moments with their now-dead loves-of-a-lifetime, as well as recollections of those spouses' demise to the couple's idyllic moments with their children in the resort town of Deauville. You might recall the "family's" day trip on "the boat" and the stroll along the shore. The film's contrasts are lovely, including: b&w vs. color; innocence (the pair's children) vs. experience (the pair themselves), etc. The most obvious counterpoint is male and female: Man vs. Woman; Boy vs. Girl {i.e., Antoine vs. Francoise). I also love the pair's stark reserve (think of the lack of emotion after they finish making love at the Normandy Hotel) vs. their effusive emotion (think about the uncontrolled happiness when Trintignant's Man drives many miles from the Montecarlo race, after unexpectedly winning and receiving a telegram from Aimee's Woman ending with, "I love you," to find his femme. When he does find her, with the help of the children's boarding-school teacher, she is playing with les enfants on the beach. He steps out of his winning racecar, not caring how dirty it is after driving north from the South of France, and flashes his headlights. How beautiful it is when all four of them begin smiling, laughing and spinning around in absolute wonder and happiness -- all to the dream-scat score from Francis Lai's vibrant imagination. When I am feeling happy, my mind turns to that "dubba-dubba-da" theme. Does yours, too?

The images, the language (ah-h-h, le francais!), the romance the music and the fashions, plus the many messages, both subtle and concrete, of the importance of truth and frankness in the existence of love, the wholeness of Beingness and the desire to live in the present (and love the one you're with) -- all of this makes "Un Homme et Une Femme" a film that I and many others will cherish forever.

An Artistically Good Movie
The movie details a widow and a widower looking for romance by a chance of encountering one another. Both are dealing with the loss of a spouse. The movie goes back and forth into time as to how their spouses have died and she has this image of him being a pimp when he doesn't go into detail about his career. He doesn't want to instill fear into her. She lost her husband on a movie set. One minute the movie is in black and white. The next minute, it's in color, like their love for each other. It may seem boring to some viewers because they expect something more dramatizing to happen or some sort of sexual tension and passion which is not what the movie is about. The movie without the excessiveness was just fine and easy to watch. I wasn't bored watching the movie. The fashion and makeup of the sixties was cool.

So Romantic! (A 4.3 on a scale of 1 to 5)
"A Man and a Woman" is the quintessential French movie from the 60's. It's a love story (of course), it has a soundtrack that you'll recognize immediately, it's got Anouk Aimee.

The plot-if it could even be called that-is simple. A man and a woman meet at their children's boarding school. The man drives the woman back to Paris...and then back and forth to the school again the next Sunday. During these drives, they disclose their tragic, painful pasts: both have recently been widowed. Eventually they become closer and closer until they can almost read each other thoughts. The movie is about many small moments-flashbacks to their respective marriages, their glamourous jobs (she's a movie editor, he's a race car driver), their interactions with their children. The movie jumps from black and white to color, from present to past, from silence to that theme music.
Yes there are some schmaltzy moments...lots of running on the beach with the theme music under it. Still it is beautiful to look at, beautifully acted...and just so romantic! ... Read more