A Man and a Woman
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Movie Reviews of A Man and a Woman
Movie Review: Slight but very memorable
Summary: 4 Stars
It's not surprising that Un Homme et Une Femme/A Man and a Woman proved a smash hit: cars and stunts for the guys and romance for the gals, an impossible to forget love theme and a slight enough plot not to get in the way of the characters or be damaged by subtitling or dubbing. Rather than a love story it's really the prelude to a love story - or at least a possible love story (an ambiguity the belated sequel would find few friends by resolving) - with the mutually widowed Jean-Louis Trintignant's racing driver and Anouk Aimée's continuity girl still in love with her dead husband meeting through their weekend trips to visit their children in boarding school. It's a fitting start to their romance since the film was born when director Claude Lelouch, after driving all night trying to work out how to save his disastrous Les Grands Moments, found himself on a beach at six in the morning watching a woman with her child presumably making the most of what little time they had together. Shot on the hoof with a tiny crew with exteriors shot in color to raise funding for a TV sale but the interiors shot in black and white to keep costs down, the film still works surprisingly well, striking just enough home truths about relationships and doing it with enough charm and skill to make the odd misstep forgivable, although if you've seen the sly opening scenes of Lelouch's La Bonne Annee you might find it extremely difficult to keep a straight face during the ending.
Both this and the sequel, A Man and a Woman 20 Years Later, are currently available at a bargain price on a nice PAL 3-disc set with English subtitles from Amazon.fr (the third disc of extras has no subtitles, however).
Movie Review: A 'special' love story--with very nice music--not told in a logical way...
Summary: 4 Stars
That night Anne Gauthier (Aimée) missed her train... Jean-Louis Duroc (Trintignant) offered her a ride back to Paris... Both had their children at the Deauville boarding school... She has a girl named Françoise and he has a boy named Antoine... Jean-Louis knew that her husband was a stuntman who had a tragic accident... She knew that he was married and his wife commits suicide...
Claude Lelouch begins his sensitive exploration on that boat ride where there was a completely different energy in the air, where the sea was seen alive in all its many mood and through intentions looks, and lingering hands he let us know that yes, something was beginning to happen between Anne and Jean-Louis... On that wonderful beach--and through long shots--we see the couple with their children walking, playing, running with hundreds of seagulls screaming all around...
There was a great chemistry between Aimée and Trintignant in "A Man and a Woman"... The attraction between the two stars really resonated... Aimée was very sweet and gorgeous as a woman, but her constant incursions into the past left her experience with more sorrow than joy...
Trintignant was charming... His acting extremely natural... When he received Anne's telegram he left his elegant dinner and took his car driving hundreds of kilometers to join Anne and be with the children...
Lelouch captures breathtaking shots of Deauville's spectacular beach... We all remember the unforgettable scene of the man walking alike as his dog...
The film won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film...
Movie Review: So Romantic! (A 4.3 on a scale of 1 to 5)
Summary: 4 Stars
"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!
Movie Review: Still Works, After 30 Years
Summary: 4 Stars
As I sat watching this movie on a Saturday in mid-May, I realized that it had been 33 years, almost to the day, since I sat in a theatre and watched the newly released film. I know nothing about art forms or cinematography, but I do know about love and how much it can hurt / heal. Back then I was pining over the loss of a love named Paul. Two weeks ago I was feeling the loss of a love named Paul. This movie will not appeal to you if you've never loved someone so much it hurt and then had to say good-bye to that person. This movie will mean nothing to you (except for the wonderful music, perhaps) if you've never met that one person around whom all that you were / are / or ever hope to be revolves. Leave the notebook closed on the table. Put the Photography 101 homework away. Watch this movie with your heart. If you can do that, you'll love it. By the way, I thoroughly enjoyed the 20-minute short on the making of the movie which appears as an extra on the DVD.Movie Review: A 60's classic with the Ford racing team as background
Summary: 4 Stars
Like certain movies from the 30's some stand out as ones that changed how we saw film and the world?
The beautiful French lady and her girl
and the American Ford team driver and his son
find a second go at life. Seldom do we find the woman
declaring love first.