Every day, a personality invites itself into the world of Élodie Suigo. Monday November 13, 2023: filmmaker Claude Lelouch. He is back with his “Symphonic Cinema Show” which combines the most beautiful original music revisited and illustrated by cult scenes from his films.
Claude Lelouch is a director, producer, screenwriter and camera operator. Over time, he has become the filmmaker of our lives, with films that combine destinies and tell us stories. He received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1967 for A man and a womanthe Golden Globe for best foreign film as well as the Grand Prix du cinéma français for Live for living still in 1967.
After the success of his concert event on the occasion of his 60-year career made up of more than 50 films, on November 12, 2022 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, he decided to go on tour in order to meet his audience. Her Cinema Symphonic Show will therefore allow us to go back in time with, on the one hand, the scores of the most beautiful original music revisited by the musicians of the Pop Philharmonic Orchestra and the cult scenes that they came to illustrate. We obviously think of Chabadabada and Francis Lai.
franceinfo: Was it important to sit down with those who ultimately came to sit down and contributed to the success of your films?
Claude Lelouch: I really wanted, with this film concert, to revisit these 60 years of cinema. I have spent my life observing the world. I’m nothing more than a reporter. This film concert takes us on a wonderful journey over the last 60 years that I have witnessed. And it’s true that the people in the room are revisiting their lives. They do an absolutely incredible flashback, not with my images, but with their images that they superimpose on the images that I offer. And what’s more, I wanted to pay tribute to all my friends who are no longer here, to show how cinema can make them immortal, to party with them and with all these incredible seconds that I am incapable of analyze and understand.
The first gift you received from your father was a camera. It will change the course of your life. You will first film the news around you, particularly the USSR. It’s really the first step, going to tell other people’s stories, but History.
Yes, initially this camera is a great microscope. I am curious, I love everything and I want to know the world. With her, I will be able to travel and go where things are happening.
“With my camera, I went to the United States, to the USSR, I traveled around the world until the day I realized that fiction was even stronger than reality, that by telling my own stories I was going to perform better than just being a reporter.”
Claude Lelouchat franceinfo
When came out When the curtain rises, you had this notoriety which made you want to do something else. You understood, since you had actors who weren’t actors and you were making documentaries at the time, that directing actors was extremely important.
Yes. First, I did my military service during the Algerian war and there, I was given films to make and so I had the worst actors in the world. They were soldiers. And there, if I had started working with Gabin and Belmondo, I would not have asked myself any questions about directing actors. I very quickly understood that what interested me in cinema is that we believe in stories. Me, I like all genres, as long as I believe in the stories. I go to great lengths to make people believe the stories I tell. And to believe in the stories, we have to film men and women who do not act, actors who stop acting, actors who, at a given moment, give us the gift of their scars, their joys, their sorrows, of their experiences.
“When I work with actors, I need to know them well in order to film their lives as much as the one I offer them.”
Claude Lelouchat franceinfo
Your life has been divided into several stages. The first was born with A man and a woman in 1966. Did this film change your life?
Yes, A man and a woman remains to this day the cheapest film in the history of cinema and the one that grossed the most. And it’s true that this film was perhaps my last since the previous six had not done very well. So I made this film a bit like committing suicide by taking all the risks and it’s when you take all the risks that it’s funny. He changed my life and gave me 50 years of freedom and I took advantage of it. Ultimately, my job is to make people dream and as we never die from an overdose of dreams, I am determined to follow my dreams to the end.
Have your views changed over his 60-year career?
Yes, to the extent that he is more and more benevolent. I accept everything.
“I think that mistakes are part of our lives and intelligent people have a taste for forgiveness. By forgiving, we get through everything. I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life, I’ve been forgiven for them, so I’m still alive.”
Claude Lelouchat franceinfo
So, what is your view on this immense career, on what you have achieved, on more than 50 films since we are at 51 today?
If I had been made to read the script of my life when I was born, I would not have believed it. And it’s true that when I manage to film little miracles, I’m very happy. You have a happy man in front of you, take advantage of it, he is an endangered species.
The Symphonic Cinema Show will be held on November 11, 2023 in Bar-le-Duc, November 15 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, and December 3 at the Zénith in Lille. And then on November 17, 2024 at the Zénith de Rouen and at the Zénith de Caen on December 1, 2024.