An Interview with Claude Lelouch

Da da da, daby daby da …

If read properly, there are few more romantic notes in cinema history than Francis Lai’s theme for A Man and a Woman. Back in 1966, it all clicked. Jean-Louis Trintignant, Anouk Aimee, race cars, exotic locales, an abrasive and emotional camera and, of course, the music.

Who knew?

Certainly not the 28-year-old Claude Lelouch whose revious film, Une Fille et des fusils, had earned critical kudos for its story and inventive camera but was largely unknown outside of Paris art houses. Un Homme et un femme was barely out of the lab and on its way to Cannes and an enthusiastic response at its first screening at the Palais du festival. He was swamped with well wishers and an American distributor ready to take it to the States and with a cheque for $25,000 to prove his sincerity. Lelouch was thrilled and signed on the dotted line.

“You know I don’t know anymore, maybe it was $10,000 but not a lot of money,” he says on a brief stop over in New York to promote his latest film And Now … Ladies & Gentlemen. “I just signed, I didn’t know any better. They got all rights forever and I had no legal recourse. It was probably really good because I got mad and set up my own company.”

To this day, the film remains one of the biggest French films in terms of admissions in the U.S. A week after he signed it away, the picture won Cannes top award. The British Academy cited it as film of the year, it was named best foreign-language film at the Golden Globes and Aimee was named best actress, Oscar gave it statuettes for its original script and as foreign-language film and Lelouch and Aimee were nominated in their respective categories. He was a hot property and segued into a long-term relationship with United Artists that kicked off with Vivre pour Vivre with Yves Montand and Candice Bergen and filmed simultaneously in French and English.

His latest film, starring Jeremy Irons and singer Patricia Kaas mixes English and French dialogue and despite having made several films in English or with English-speaking character, he says it adds an additional hurdle for his work. I recall an interview with him 15 years earlier in Montreal where we managed to stumble through with his bad English and my bad French but today he’s armed with a translator.

“I think my English gets worse,” he insists. “It’s a tough language for the French, we phrase things completely different.”

The last time we talked, perhaps five years earlier, he was steaming about a seaming blacklist that American talk shows had for non-English speakers. The first and only time he appeared on American television was for his breakthrough film. It was puzzling to him because his own experience in England, Spain, Italy, Japan and other countries was that he would be simultaneously translated just as French television does when American actors and filmmakers come to promote new movies.

Luckily, print journalists aren’t daunted by a translator and he has lots to say about the new film. Once again it’s a love story about a man and a woman. Lelouch insists almost all his films could be called that but I wonder if another one of his films Hasard et Consequence (Luck and Coincidence) might be an equally apt description for his movie stories.

“Yes,” he says with a startling lack of conviction and continues on. “You know Valentin (Iron’s character) is based on a real thief I met.” But thieves and gangsters of a genial stripe have been constant in his films and in La Bonne Annee (Happy New Year) one of the capers virtually mirrors the current film right down to the character’s elaborate disguise.

“Yes, yes, that’s true, I find these people fascinating and the best are fabulous company,” he responds. “But Valentin, and the man he’s based on, are different, they want to reimburse all the people they have stolen from. I suppose it’s remorse or guilt. And there are a lot of reasons why they can’t do it. You know, it’s hard to change your ways as you get older and in this instance I think they know on a subconscious level that it would be an admission of something that’s very difficult.”

He told the bare bones of the story to Dustin Hoffman when the two men met at a film festival and the actor apparently fell in love with the idea and told Lelouch he would play the role. However, when it came time to commit his ardor had faded. Next to voice interest was John Malkovich and again it was a dance that ended prematurely. He says diplomatically that either actor would have been very good but that Irons worked out best of trio. It’s difficult to argue the point.

As for Kaas, making her screen debut, he says she and her music had a melancholic quality that was vital to the story. He describes the characters as two people who no longer believe in love, who no longer believe in anything, so anything is possible.

Since Un Homme et une femme music has played an important role in all of Lelouch’s films and he says he views its role as representing the unconscious feelings whereas story is the conscious component.

There are other consistencies. With the exception of Les Miserables starring Belmondo and updated to the Second World War all his films have been original scripts by himself or in collaboration with Pierre Uytterhoeven. Still, he calls them blueprints that allow for the possibility of surprises. He’s also shot many of his movies, or operated one of the multiple cameras during filming. Lelouch owns one of France’s leading film equipment houses and is constantly on the look out for cameras or technical devices that provide him greater flexibility to tell screen stories.

One project he’s bruited about but yet to make would be shot and filmed in close to real time. His idea is to shoot a story over a 24-hour period that takes place in a single day.

“Yes, I will make it some day but first I must do a film - actually three films - that I’ve been working on for 30 years. It’s a comedy about our inhuman side and every time I come across a story that fits that idea I’ve written it down. Now I’m ready to write the story which will take place over 50 years.”

Lelouch can’t say much more other than, unlike my contention, it is the opposite of luck and coincidence. There are encounters and all that transpires is inevitable. His leading actors will be unknowns and all the supporting parts will be played by stars.