Claude Lelouch Biography
Claude Lelouch, was born on October 30, 1937 in Paris, French director and screenwriter who was noted chiefly for his lush visual style. He achieved prominence in 1966 with his film Un Homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman), which shared the Grand Prize at the Cannes film festival and won two Academy Awards for best foreign film and for best original story and screenplay.
Claude Lelouch Age
Claude was born on October 30, 1937 in Paris, France.
Claude Lelouch Spouse
He is married to Valérie Perrin. He was previously married to
Alessandra Martines (1993 – 2009) ( divorced) ( 1 child)
Marie-Sophie L. (1986 – 1992) ( divorced) ( 3 children)
Evelyne Bouix (1980 – 1985) ( 1 child)
Christine Lelouch (1970 – ?) ( divorced) ( 1 child)
Claude Lelouch Children
He had seven children Sarah Lelouch with Swedish model Gunilla Friden, Salomé Lelouch with first wife Evelyne Bouix, Sabaya Lelouch, Seb Lelouch, Shaya Lelouch with second wife, Simon Lelouch with actress Christine Lelouch, and Stella Lelouch with third wife Alessandra Martines.
Claude Lelouch Family
His father was born to an Algerian Jewish family and his mother was a convert to Judaism. Lelouch says that his first contact with cinema was very young, “My mother hid me in movie theaters when I was little. We were wanted by the Gestapo. […] Cinema, for starters, saved my life.
Of his personal faith, he says “Today I believe in God. My faith was sparked when I made a film in Israel. Over there, it is impossible not to believe in God. I loved the places of worship of all the religions. Everything which happens is for the best. I sometimes have the feeling that my inspiration comes from heaven. I think it is wonderful to be Jewish.
Lelouch Career
At age 13 Lelouch won a prize at the Cannes Amateur Film Festival for Le Mal du siècle (“The Evil of the Century”). He made television commercials before serving in the military from 1957 to 1960. In 1961 Lelouch made his first feature film, with financial backing from his family: Le Propre de l’homme (“The Right of Man”), which he directed, wrote the script for, and acted in; it was not a success.
His breakthrough came five years later with Un Homme une femme, about the relationship between a widow and a widower. He penned the drama (with Pierre Uytterhoeven), and many of his other films featured scripts that he wrote or cowrote.
Lelouch subsequently directed Vivre pour vivre (1967; Live for Life), Mariage (1974; Marriage), Robert et Robert (1978; “Robert and Robert”), and À nous deux (1979; Us Two). For Toute une vie (1974; And Now My Love), he and Uytterhoeven received Oscar nominations for their original screenplay.
Lelouch’s later notable movies included the musical Les Uns et les autres (1981; Bolero) and Les Misérables (1995), an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel. The latter won a Golden Globe Award for best foreign film. Lelouch continued to direct into the early 21st century, and the dramedy Chacun sa vie (Everyone’s Life) was released in 2017.
Claude Lelouch Net Worth
His estimated net worth $185 Million.
Claude Lelouch Honours
- 2016 ; Commander in the Order of the Crown.
Claude Lelouch Awards
- Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman won the Palme d’Or at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, as well as two Oscars including Best Foreign Language Film.
- His 1967 film, Vivre pour vivre, was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.In 1971, he won the David di Donatello for Best Foreign Directing for Le Voyou.
Claude Lelouch Filmography
- Le Propre de l’homme (1960)
- L’Amour avec des si (1962)
- La Femme spectacle (1963)
- Une fille et des fusils (1964)
- Les Grands Moments (1965)
- Pour Un Maillot Jaune (1965)
- A Man and a Woman (1966)
- Vivre pour vivre (1967)
- La Vie, l’amour, la mort (1968)
- 13 jours en France (1968)
- Un Homme qui me plaît (1969)
- Le Voyou (1970)
- Smic, Smac, Smoc (1971)
- L’aventure c’est l’aventure (1972)
- La bonne année (1973)
- Visions of Eight (1973)
- Mariage (1974)
- Toute une vie (1974)
- Le Bon et les méchants (1975)
- Le Chat et la souris (1975)
- C’était un rendez-vous (1976)
- Si c’était à refaire (1976)
- Un autre homme, une autre chance (1977)
- Robert et Robert (1978)
- À nous deux (1979)
- Les Uns et les Autres (1981)
- Édith et Marcel (1982)
- Viva la vie (1983)
- Partir, revenir (1984)
- Attention bandits! (1986)
- Un homme et une femme : vingt ans déjà (1986)
- Itinéraire d’un enfant gâté (1988)
- Il y a des jours… et des lunes (1989)
- La Belle Histoire (1992)
- Tout ça… pour ça ! (1992)
- Les Misérables (1995)
- Lumière et compagnie (1995)
- Hommes, femmes, mode d’emploi (1996)
- Hasards ou coïncidences (1997)
- Une pour toutes (1999)
- And now… Ladies and Gentlemen (2001)
- 11’09″01 September 11 (2002; segment “France”)
- Les Parisiens (2004)
- Le Courage d’aimer (2005)
- Roman de Gare (2007; he also appears as “Hervé Picard”, a pseudonym)
- Ces amours là (2010)
- D’un film à l’autre (2011)
- Salaud, on t’aime (2014)
- Un plus une (2015)
- Chacun sa vie et son intime conviction (2017)
- The Best Years of a Life (2019)
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Claude Lelouch Interview
Claude Lelouch’s The Best Years of a Life premiered out of competition in Cannes. The film follows up on Lelouch’s monumental 1966 film A Man and a Woman.
“Da da da da da, da da da da da” rang out in the main Cannes auditorium with a huge show of emotion from the crowd as they recalled the film’s famous anthem.
In 1966-67 Claude Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman was a phenomenon. After winning the 1966 Cannes Palme d’Or the hugely romantic, exquisitely shot film with Francis Lai’s killer song went on to win the best foreign film Oscar and Golden Globe. It also broke out in the main awards scoring Lelouch an Oscar for best original screenplay (together with co-writer Pierre Uytterhoeven), while Anouk Aimee scored a Best Actress Oscar nomination and won in the Golden Globe’s dramatic category.
The film, which follows a widow and widower who meet via their kids at a Normandy boarding school, made huge stars of Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant (Amour) while Lelouch could do whatever he wanted. Rejecting offers from Hollywood for films starring Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen, he instead stayed in France, where he is now a living legend after making 49 films. The 81 year-old lover of racing cars (Trintignant’s character was a racing car driver) remains remarkably youthful.
The Best Years of a Life tells a new story while using extensive footage of the original film. Trintignant is in a nursing home and cannot remember a great deal. Though he can remember the love of his life when she comes to visit.
Jean-Louis Trintingant, 88, seems much older than Anouk Aimee, 87, in the film, even if they are around the same age.
CLAUDE LELOUCH: It’s true that time has passed very differently for each of them. You can see death circling around Jean-Louis and that life is very large for Anouk. It’s that opposition I wanted to film. I wanted to make a film on life and I love, life with all its faults and all its contradictions.
It’s still a great love story.
CLAUDE LELOUCH I wanted to show that love is immortal. When you love someone it’s forever. If you don’t love forever then you aren’t in love.
Trintignant and Aimee are great actors.
CLAUDE LELOUCH They’re very close to their characters. I like to cast actors who speak of things they know. Jean-Louis is someone who has suffered a lot in his life. He’s lost two children and he’s now nearly blind. He can’t walk any more but he has incredible courage.
A Man and a Woman changed your life and was considered revolutionary in France.
CLAUDE LELOUCH: It changed my life 53 years ago in Cannes and it changed the life of Anouk, Jean-Louis, Francis, all of us, and it changed the lives of the spectators too. I constructed the new film with memories and flashbacks so it would also be your story. We all have parents or grandparents of a certain age and I think all the people in the room can identify with the characters.
In 1986 you made a second film with the pair, A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later and the reaction was not positive.
CLAUDE LELOUCH: It was too early. I made an error. They hadn’t changed. The thing that was needed was time.
After the first film you had offers from Hollywood to work with McQueen and Brando.
CLAUDE LELOUCH: Yes that’s right.
You said no. Why?
CLAUDE LELOUCH: Because I didn’t want to be a slave to the producers. I always thought directors were more important than producers but in Hollywood the producer is more important. Of course in America there are auteurs who have made great films, like Woody Allen and John Cassavetes, and great directors like Coppola and Scorsese have managed to work within the constraints of the studios. I would have been thrilled to make films with Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen if I could make what I wanted to make. But they wanted final cut. I was once asked to make a James Bond film and I would have loved for a woman to break James Bond’s heart. I would have liked it if he resembled a man and not a superhero.
You film in continuity and you film fast.
CLAUDE LELOUCH: Yes. I shot this film in 10 days and the original film took 13 days. I don’t like giving the script to the actors or rehearsing. You have to have confidence in each other. I like that they discover as we go along. Jean-Louis knew that from the beginning and really inhabited this role. Actors shouldn’t work too much on a text. The cinema is not theatre. In cinema you see people’s eyes and their eyes miss nothing. You see joy, there’s a curiosity and that’s what I’ve tried to film all my life.
I’ve always regarded myself as an amateur, because I believe the work of filmmakers is too wonderful to be regarded as job. I’ve always tried out new things, which is why I recently shot a film with my cell phone. It will be finished at the end of the year.
Since you made the 1976 eight-minute short, It Was a Date you’re known as a racing car driver who would drive faster than a train to see a woman through the streets of Paris.
CLAUDE LELOUCH: I have one fault in that I hate being late. It shows people you are happy to see them if you arrive on time. It’s true that I took a big risk to be on time and this is what this film is. It’s the film of mine that has been most seen everywhere in the world through the internet and it’s also the film I’m most proud of–and also most ashamed of. I did everything you shouldn’t do when driving a car.
I took the maximum risk, risking my own life and the lives of other people. At the same time I have to confess that I love speed and I don’t like things to be forbidden. So one morning I took my car and drove very fast for 10 minutes and I filmed those 10 minutes. I think the film is a perfect metaphor to show what a man can be proud and ashamed of, to have proof of what a man can recognise as a fault.