PiraBit
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Lee Eisenberg
I don't know whether or not Claude Lelouch was considered part of the French New Wave, but judging by "Un homme et une femme" ("A Man and a Woman" in English), I'd say that he should be. The Oscar-winning movie chronicles a relationship that has arisen following tragic circumstances. The switching back and forth between black-and-white and color adds a mystifying angle to the plot. But most important is the complexity of the characters and subtlety of the plot. Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée put on the performances of a lifetime. I guess that the movie's overall point is that life comes at us fast and can throw in unpleasant surprises, so we need to develop social connections however possible.A masterpiece.
lasttimeisaw
Claude Lelouch's Palme d'or winner (an honour shared with Pietro Germi's THE BIRDS, THE BEES AND THE ITALIANS 1966), which is also a two-times Oscar winner (BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM and BEST ORIGINAL SCRIPT, with two other notable nominations, BEST DIRECTOR and BEST LEADING ACTRESS).Opening with a mother telling Little Red Riding Hood to her kiddie daughter, and a father teaches his baby boy driving on the street, the movie's diegesis is a plain romance between a man and a woman, Jean-Louis Duroc (Trintignant) and Anne Gauthier (Aimée). They meet at the boarding school of their children in Deauville, although both claiming to be married, we don't see their respective spouses with them. Anne carpools with Jean-Louis to head back to Paris, en route, Anne recollects fond memory of her husband Pierre (Barouh), a movie stuntman whom later she reveal has died in an accident. During their next scheduled trip to Deauville, Jean-Louis confesses that he is a racer who survived a tragic accident which unfortunately prompted his wife's suicide. So there is nothing to hold back their mutual attraction, a widow and a widower, with two young kids, a boy and a girl, it is a perfect second chance.A MAN AND A WOMAN is an exemplar of the atmosphere cinema, unbelievably captures the zeitgeist of its time, Lelouch's incalculable interchange of its palette, between colour, black-and- white and sepia tone, is a godsend to perk up the intimacy of the close-ups and the mundanity of an unforced narrative arc. Francis Lai's iconic soundtrack lead by its enduring titular theme song (performed by Barouh and Nicole Croisille) is trance-inducing and incredibly attune to the pulse of the romance and its aftermath. The picture is also a fruit of a new generation of Gallo-trendsetters (Lelouch and Lai, are both under 30, and the crew is mostly youngsters), structurally unbridled, visually discursive, sonically enchanting, top-lined with a pair of uncontrived charmers, Trintignant and Aimée, it is a film of nigh perfection, which seems rather a windfall gauged through Lelouch's entire career path.Incisively, Lelouch's dichotomous rumination on the difference of gender politics hits the bull's eye, with regard to memories, woman is more prone to linger in the limbo of sentiments whereas man is inevitably more clinging to his carnal impulse (Jean-Louis already has a lover before he meets Anne). A bona-fide heart-stealer is the soul-touching shots of an old man with his dog on the beach side, that is how nostalgia is wondrously evoked in a movie, such a knockout picture, the more you think about it, the more affection will germinate afterwards.
SnoopyStyle
Anne Gauthier (Anouk Aimée) misses the train and catches a ride from Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who sends his son to the same boarding school as her daughter. They connect and discuss their lives. She's widowed after her husband died during a movie stunt. He's also a widower when his wife committed suicide after he was in a near-fatal race car crash.It's a slow rambling artistic French romance. Anouk Aimée delivers an intriguing performance. The cinematography switch between black and white and color leaves the movie with a half dream quality. It's an interesting movie but strictly for the art house crowd.
Ben7
Even considering that this picture was released in 1966, it pales in comparison to many of its contemporaries. Here we have a glamorous couple in their mid-30's, under the thrall of insanely prolonged adolescence and too absorbed with their self-indulgent careers to undertake the day-to-day responsibilities of parenthood. We see them doing their respective things as they evade the pedagogical, and it's about as interesting as watching a guy fix a drain trap under a sink. Yeah, they look good, but anyone who has lived for a while knows that is not enough to sustain a relationship. The female is pining for her dead stuntman husband, who apparently really knew how to show a girl a good time. Now she's going for another adrenaline junkie, this time a race car driver. Sadly, this is an apt observation of how people seem to find lovers sporting the same characteristics that torpedoed their previous romantic involvements. They risk their lives motoring through inclimate weather to sustain the drama of their attraction...it's just silly. One notes that the male drives a first-generation Mustang, a mediocre iconically American product. At that time, purists were up in arms over the incursion of American culture and the English language into French society, so perhaps this is some sort of commentary pertaining thereto. Things don't go too well in the bedroom, and anyone who has had a partner trip out like that at the moment of truth must applaud its observation of the tragic differences between men and women as to sexuality. The final image is very cool and tres French, but it is questionable whether it is worth the time invested getting there. Thus I must damn this picture with faint praise.
