The most famous women in France die, which simply means the most wonderful women in the world. We had no time to mourn Françoise Hardy, and just one week later, on June 18, at the age of 92, Anouk Aimé, the movie star of 1960s hits such as The Sweet Life and Eight and a Half Men, died. However, if, as Mikhail Bulgakov wrote, “manuscripts do not burn” and “Dostoevsky is immortal,” this amazing actress lives as long as we remember the characters she created. That is why we would like to remind you of one of her most important films – “Woman and Man” by director Claude Lellouche.
This film, which Tadeusz Lubelski called “a new wave of illegitimate child” and at the same time “a dream come true of a new wave of films for people”, was released to the world in 1966. At that time it won the Palme d’Or. Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscars, and most importantly, it remained immortal in the history of cinema, as one of the most beautiful love stories.
“New Wave Cinema for the People”
The main character, Jean-Louis, played by Jean-Louis Trintignant, is a rally driver who lost his wife due to his risky job. The distraught woman ended up being taken to hospital in critical condition after the march. Despite this, the man did not abandon his previous activities, and fast cars became his greatest love. For him, boredom is worse than danger.
Anne Gaultier, played by Anouk Aimee, meets her children at school. He drove her home because she missed the last train. As she admits in the car, being late is her specialty. During the trip, Anne talks about her beloved husband, who died in a tragic accident, and she still talks about him in the present tense, and every word she says is an expression of undying love. Only when the cheerful man asks if he can meet him does he hear that the heroine’s partner has died.
After becoming more and more infatuated, he suggests that they go together next time to take their children to boarding school. Gautier agrees and leaves him her number. This sounds like the beginning of the most cliched story in the world. However, in such cinema it is not about the plot, but the way it is told. Although the series of events and circumstances are intensified, the pace and narration of the action give the impression that nothing is happening at all, but you still cannot leave the screen.
– wrote Bolesław Michalek, screenwriter and film critic, after the premiere.
The main character declares her love through a telegram, usually wearing a sheepskin coat or nothing at all, her lover still fixated on the way she speaks and the style of her dark hair.
Anouk herself did not recreate the legendary French style, she invented it. She didn’t need fancy design to impress. All she needed were white gloves and cat-eye glasses.
“Clichés shine with poetry”
It is the music, the details, the innovative way of editing and creating beautiful frames that make Lelouch’s early film a timeless masterpiece. The director proposes a story with a blurry premise, typical of him. This method of shooting was permanently assigned to him, so these frames are still called “lelucha”. Although later critics viewed the director as a one-man actioner, this style, which first appeared in A Woman and a Man, became an enduring part of cinema history. Lelouch combined it with a fast-paced auto racing montage that absolutely delighted audiences in the 1960s, and continues to delight them to this day. This is what The New York Times wrote about the production immediately after its premiere:
“It is a beautiful story with a stunning display of visual images. The only problem is that the drama is trivial. (…) Mr. Lelouch has the rare ability to depict pictures so that they sparkle and sparkle with poetry, and to inspire the audience with the most trivial parts of the plot. For example, he has a sequence that leads In it, a racing driver from Monte Carlo to Paris at night arrives in the glow of a winter sunrise that suddenly warms the audience’s marrow. Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimé are the only characters of any importance in the film, having become mere puppets in the creator’s hands for the visual beauty and romantic suffering that Lelouch wants. To narrate it rhythmically.”
Everything about it is incredibly captivating, but not this sweeping American beauty, which leaves no opportunity for the viewer to dream of a similar story. Yes, there are beautiful cars crossing the screen and Anouk looking stunning, but it’s the simplicity that draws the viewer in, leaving them lingering with the film’s musical theme, which is as thoughtful as it is incredibly simple – just like this entire cinematic masterpiece.
Sources: New York Times, IL, New Wave Cinema, Historia Kina 2015 Volume 3
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