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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
So......What's New?, July 18, 2006
"A Man and A Woman" may not be Claude Lelouch's best film, but, it undoubtedly is his most popular.
When "A Man and A Woman" was first released in 1966 it became a worldwide hit. It put Lelouch on the map. It was made during a time when the anthem of life was "sex, drugs, and rock n' roll". Yet the movie presented a kind of eternal love. These characters weren't interested in "free love". They had felt a love that would not die.
"A Man and A Woman: 20 Years Later" is a film that argues when an old love dies, we should welcome a new love. Remember the lyrics to Michel Legrand's "Watch What Happens".
Anne Gauthier (Anouk Aimee) is no longer a script girl, now she is a film producer. Her latest film has flopped with the critics and the public. Anne feels the desperate need to redeem herself and start working on a new film. She decides to film the story of her love affair with Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Tringtignant), whom after all these years is still living life in the fast lane.
The meeting between the two brought back such memories. Of course it helped that Lelouch inserts clips from the original now and then. To see these two characters meet again after 20 years was like seeing old friends you've lost touched with. I'm tempted to compare the experience to something Ingmar Bergman did last year with his sequel to "Scenes From A Marriage", "Saraband". There too we were dealing with characters we as audience felt we knew.
That is the big thing Lelouch has going for him with this film. Nostalgia. "A Man and A Woman: 20 Years Later" is not a better film than the original. It's not as beautifully shot nor is it as expertly written (the original won the Oscar for best original screenplay). But nostalgia is the name of the game here with this film. Nostalgia for the original, nostalgia for lost love and youth. The movie is about second chances.
One of the ways Lelouch pushes forward his theme of second chances is by showing us the new movie Anne is working on. When she first decides to film Jean-Louis and her story we can sense that old flame between them start to burn, but then Anne decides not to make the movie. Instead she begins work on a thriller. A story that is in the headlines about a man who escapes from a mental hospital and is accused of killing his wife and child. But Anne film argues it wasn't the man who killed his wife it was someone else. Thus giving him a second chance.
Another sub-plot has Jean-Louis stranded with his young wife in the desert. She has found out about Jean-Louis and Anne. Mostly because he told her and has decided to leave her. She takes actions that will ensure the two to be stuck together. It is her attempt at a second chance with her husband.
The problem I have with the movie though is I'm not sure Lelouch is using the best scenarios to get his point across. Did we really need the murder sub-plot or the desert scenes? Couldn't Lelouch just have focused more on the two lead characters? I think I would have prefered that film over this one.
But, in the end I appreciate Lelouch's work and this film. What can I say, I'm something of a hopeless romantic. Or maybe I'm just hopeless. I haven't decided yet. I like the film's ideas and as I said before I felt a certain nostaglia when Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant were on-screen together. Plus, probably in complete contradiction to the rest of the American public, I have to admit, I absolutely love the theme song. Which here in this movie is updated a bit. It has a more funky sound to it.
If you're a fan of Claude Lelouch or a fan of the original I think you may enjoy this film. Again, it's like visiting old friends. It will put a smile on your face. You'll have a good time catching up and afterwards you may forget certain moments, but in the end you'll be glad you decided to watch the movie.
Bottom-line: By no means one of Lelouch's best films. And in no way better than the original, but, it's a film that has a lot of sentimentality to it. Works best if you've seen the original first.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pick Up the Pieces, December 2, 2000
By A Customer
Interesting film in that it shows the same actors - Anouk and Jean Louis playing the same roles twenty years later. It's interesting to see how they both have changed. BTW: Jean Louis is terrific as the Brain in City of the Lost Children. Great to hear both actors in their native tongue as compared to the original A Man and A Woman which is only available in the States in a dubbed English version. I watch that film with the sound off! This follow up movie displays Director Claude Lelouch kinetic camera work with some nice visuals on movie sets, in Paris, in North African Desert and back to Deauville the site of the original A Man and A Woman. Francis Lai, the composer add alittle Jazzy flavor to the soundtrack. Unfortunately the story is like a puzzle with the missing pieces. Still I enjoyed the film because I really can not watch the original in a dubbed version! Bloody awful! For a better Claude Lelouch film, I recommend his version of Les Miserables with Jean Paul Belmondo. Great story, great visuals and original language and with all the pieces together!
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth watching if you really liked the original movie., December 15, 1998
By A Customer
Not as good as the original movie, but worth watching if you want to catch up with the characters twenty years later. Interesting to see how their children have grown up (good casting - daughter looks very much like Anouk Aimee). The "movie within a movie" is dull - watch it the first time, then fast forward for later viewings. The ending is satisfactory, but I would have liked to have seen Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant on screen together more.
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