An Oscar and Golden Palm winner for his masterpiece A Man and a Woman
(1966) who has made over 50 films, Calude Lelouch never gets tired of
bringing the most intriguing stories to the screen. His first first
documentary film, Mal du siecle, was honoured with a debut
Grand Prix at Cannes. At the age of 16, the talented Frenchman is
already shooting commercials and works in television as a documentarist.
Authentic atmosphere, spontaneous acting and the virtuoso
method of directing are all a trademark of Lelouch’s films, whether it
is a laid-back comedy, a socially engaged film, a historic or a crime
drama, these aspects are always present. Claude Lelouch also has a taste
for quality acting; some of French cinema’s biggest names such as
Catherine Denouve, Ive Montane, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Fanni Ardan,
Jean-Claude Briali, Anouk Aimee, Jean-Louis Trintignant as well as
international stars such as Jeremy Irons and Geraldine Chaplin have all
been in front of his camera. However, Lelouch also likes using
non-professional actors, amongst them are famous personalities such as
Bernard Tapi and Patricia Kaas. Today, Claude Lelouch is a happy father
of 7 children from the various women in his life. One of the loves of
his life is actress Annie Girardot, with whom he gets emotionally
involved during the filming of Vivre pur vivre (1967).
A
retrospective of Claude Lelouch’s films was screened at the Cinema
House between the 25th of February and the 3rd of March 2011.
