The heroine ofA man and a woman and Jean-Louis Trintignant meet on the Croisette in 1986 for the sequel to the film. Christophe Dechavanne will host them live on C’est encore mieux l’après-midi. Madelen invites you to discover, or rediscover, this exceptional moment.
Time separates those who love each other. Claude Lelouch undoubtedly thought of Jacques Prévert and the Dead leaves when he began to imagine the scenario ofA man and a woman, 20 years later. The film, shot partly in Deauville, was presented out of competition at Cannes in 1986. Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant met on the Croisette where, before climbing the steps of the Palais, they participated, with a smile and a little of emotion, on various television shows. Christophe Dechavanne receives them in It’s even better in the afternoon, exceptionally live from the Festival. Madelen invites you to discover, or rediscover, this sequence with which Richard Berry is associated, who, in the film, plays his own role. In front of the cameras, Anouk Aimée admits, with a smile on her lips, to having agreed to embark on this adventure with the same enthusiasm as the first time.
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His history of friendship with Lelouch undoubtedly has something to do with it. She began at the end of 1965. Became a star in Italy since The sweet life et Eight and a halfdirected by Federico Fellini, she is in Rome when her friend Nadine Trintignant phones her to give her a message from Jean-Louis, her husband: he has accepted the lead male role in a film by a young director, Claude Lelouch, who wants to meet her. He wants to ask her to become his female counterpart in a film that is, it seems, completely original.
A meeting is arranged a few days later in Paris. The professional and friendly contact is immediate. Lelouch tells Anouk Aimée the broad outlines of a story that he has not yet written down. He evokes, in particular, the origin of the idea, one morning, on the beach of Deauville. His enthusiasm and sincerity are such that the actress gives an immediate green light.
This is how she becomes Anne Gauthier in A man and a woman. The weather had nothing to do with it, but the sky darkened just a few days after the start of shooting in Deauville. It is agreed that Anouk boards a boat for a scene off the beach. The sea is bad, and it refuses. His decision is final. She suffers from seasickness, and above all, she is afraid of waves. Lelouch’s insistence does not change her mind. She leaves the set, returns to the hotel and locks herself in her room. “Fellini never treated me like that!”, she says to the director, threatening to return to Paris if he continues this filming. He lets the storm pass, returns to the charge, and manages to make her reconsider her decision. She will never regret it.
The Palme d’Or at Cannes, which no one imagined the very morning the awards were announced, will open the doors to Hollywood for him. The appointment by Sidney Lumet and Justine by Georges Cukor’s successes allowed him to meet, among others, two of his idols, Fred Astaire and Groucho Marx. In 1999, she concluded what became a trilogy by playing Anne Gauthier for the third time in The best years of a life.
The conclusion of a long journey which began by chance, the day after his 13th birthday, rue du Colisée, near the Champs-Élysées. She leaves a cinema, accompanied by her mother. She sees a friend, Henri Calef, whom she has not seen for a long time. She introduces him to her daughter. After a few minutes of conversation, the man turns to the teenager and says, “Do you want to make movies?”. Faced with the surprised looks of the two women, he clarifies that he is preparing to make a film called The House Under the Seaand feels like he has before him the living portrait of the one he has been searching for in vain for several weeks. Anouk, who is then called Françoise, has other plans. In particular, she plans to start studying pharmacy the day after her Baccalaureate. However, she takes up the challenge, convinced that it is an experience without a future. That is without counting on the eye of Marcel Carné who suggests that she repeat the experience in The flower of age. He suggests that she take a pseudonym. She becomes «Anouk»the first name of the heroine of this film. Jacques Prévert, present on the set, suggests that he add “Beloved”. The rest is part of cinema history.