A man and a woman – Un homme et une femme. Millions of men and women all over the world, vibrating in unison toh the same film, legendary ever since. Cinema as global experience and feeling, capable of connecting even the most remote and isolated places on earth. A sentiment that could penetrate into the Iron Curtain. In communist Romania, people would put on their elegant clothes, as for a special occasion, and they would besiege cinemas, cultural centres or summer theatres, just so they could sigh in synch with spectators of the free world about a simple, but oh so generous love story, with glam settings and exceptional actors, story which somehow still managed to feel universal. It was the film of our parents’ generation. A piece of cinema that transcended historical eras, political regimes, destinies: it was the most popular winner of the Cannes Film Festival, standing proof art film and success are not incompatible.
On 18th and 19th October 2019, the famous French filmmaker Claude Lelouch will be guest of honour of the Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest Festival. The film director will charm us with his creative skill, as the festival will dedicate a film retrospective to three of the auteur’s feature films.
Lelouch found his passion for cinema when, as a child, he would hide out in cinema theatres, during the Second World War. In 1957, when he was a news cameraman, he was sent to Moscow with the aim of secretly filming slices of life in the USSR. During this reportage, Lelouch accidentally found himself at Mosfilm studios, on the set of the film which whetted his appetite for becoming a film director: Mikhail Kalatozov’s The Cranes Are Flying. In 1960, he shoots his first feature film, with the production company Les Films 13, Le propre de l’homme, a total fail. In 1966, six years after the critics brought him down, Un homme et une femme won the Palme d’Or, the supreme award at Cannes. Then followed two Oscar awards and other tens of international prizes. The film marked the emergence of an extremely loved popular auteur, who, since then, came out with more than 50 films wreathed with important prizes from all continents. The film festival that launched him, Cannes, curated for the official selection four of his films L’aventure, c’est l’aventure (1972), Les uns et les autres (1981), Roman de gare (2007) and Les plus belles années d’une vie (2019).
Un homme et une femme earned more than 40 international prizes, among which, Palme d’or, Best Foreign Language Film Award and Best Screenplay at the Oscars. The film stars Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Pieree Barouh, Valérie Lagrange. A woman, her daughter and her memories. A rally driver and his son. Cars, trains and a beach. A simple love story on the background of sublime music, travelling round the world. A script girl, still grieving after the death of her stuntman husband, meets a rally driver in Deauville, whose wife committed suicide out of desperation. They love each other, they grow apart, they meet again and rediscover their love. An eternally romantic melodrama and one of the biggest cinematic hits of 60’s cinema, due to its stylized directing, screenplay, music and the chemistry between a glamorous Anouk Aimee and a sexy Jean-Louise Trintignant, both in glorious shape.
Les plus belles années d’une vie was part of the Official Selection (outside the competition) at the Cannes Film Festival 2019 and once again stared Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant, and this time Marianne Denicourt and Monica Bellucci, as well. They met a long time ago. A man and a woman, a blazing, unexpected love, experienced in a now hard to find emotional space, and which revolutionized the manner in which we perceive love. Now, the old rally driver meanders along the foggy paths of his memory. Coming to his rescue, his son goes on looking for the girl his father is trying to find, whom he wasn’t able to keep close, but whom he conjures ceaselessly. Anne meets Jean-Louis again and they resume their love story from the very point they left off. 53 years after he first charmed the Croisette, with this film, Lelouch completes and finishes off the adventure started by Un homme et Une Femme and continued by Vingt Ans Déjà, coming forward with a potent trilogy, made to stand the test of time.
“With this tender and sensitive story through which we gain intimate sight onto two old lovers, Claude Lelouch authors one of the best works of his in a long time. Maybe it is nostalgia that comes to aid, perhaps the reunion with this couple that managed to stir feeling in so many hearts that rattles us or maybe it’s the fact that we sense the testamentary touches of the film possibly being the last one in the career of iconic actors such as Trintignant and Aimée”, Mondociné writes.
Keep up to date with the latest news regarding the 2019 edition of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, on the official website filmedefestival.ro and on the official Facebook page. All films will be subtitled in Romanian. The films with additional subtitles in English or French will be announced in the future. Tickets will soon be available on Eventbook.ro.
Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest is presented by Orange Romania, a traditional partner of the event. Offical Car of the Festival: Renault. With the support of: Catena, Apa Nova, Groupama Asigurări. Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest is a cultural project financed by the National Centre of Cinematography, and and realized with the support of SACD / Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques. Partners: Air France, KLM, The Romanian Cultural Institute, Europa Cinemas, Hotel Mercure, SERVE, UPS, Eventbook. The tenth edition of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest is organized by the Cinemascop Association and Voodoo Films.