A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their children’s boarding school. He is a race car driver and she is a script girl, both widowers. They fall in love, but memories of the past cast long shadows.
A Man and a Woman, one of the most iconic films of the 1960s, won both the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Festival and two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay. Claude Lelouch was only 28 years when he created this tender, visually exciting film of revitalizing love with two fantastic actors and a soundtrack to remember.
Filmography: Un + une (2015), Roman de gare (2007), Live for Life (167).
Claude Lelouch made his first feature film in 1960. Six years later he became the best-known French filmmaker of his generation, winning the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Festival and Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film and Best Screenplay. The film that made him a household name, A Man and a Woman, was a global hit and introduced more people to French cinema than any other film.
Since then Lelouch has made fifty feature films and shows no signs of stopping. Taking a simpler, more straightforward approach to narrative than his colleagues in the Nouvelle Vague, Lelouch has consistently found success at the box office, becoming one of the most popular and influential directors in Europe.
Claude Lelouch was born in Paris, the son of a Jewish businessman. His love affair with cinema began when he was four years old - during the Occupation, he and his mother were chased by the German Police and evaded capture by hiding in a crowded cinema. He began his career as a film journalist, making short documentaries, and made up his mind to become a filmmaker after seeing Mikhail Kalatozov’s The Cranes are flying while working on assignment in the USSR.
In the 1960s Lelouch enjoyed more international success with Live for Life, starring Yves Montand and Annie Girardot. In the 1970s he made films like the entertaining Money Money Money with Lino Ventura and Jacques Brel; the romantic heist movie Happy New Year, again with Lino Ventura; and the epic And Now My Love, which received an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. In the 1980s he continued working with big name actors like Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, James Caan and Charles Aznavour and made films like the musical Bolero. In the 1990s he made one of his most highly regarded films, Les Misérables, an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel. The film won a Golden Globe Award for best foreign film. More recent films include the stylish thriller Roman de gare, starring Fanny Ardant and Un + une, starring Jean Dujardin and Elsa Zylberstein. Lelouch is also a producer, having set up his production company, Les Films 13, in 1960.
Claude Lelouch comes to Haifa with his new film, The Best Years of a Life, an Official Selection at the Cannes Festival. The Best Years of a Life is a continuation of the story that began with A Man and a Woman fifty-three years ago and the two films bookend the successful and distinguished career of a filmmaker passionate about the art of filmmaking and telling a good story.
We are honored to welcome Claude Lelouch and present him with the Festival’s Life Achievement Award.
קבלו עדכונים על סרטים, אירועים, המלצות והטבות. לנרשמים תוענק הטבת הצטרפות!
