Jean-Louis Duroc is a racing car driver. Anne Gauthier is a script-girl. Both are in their mid-thirties, recently widowed and have a small child.
They meet, by chance, when they take their children to a boarding school in Deauville. When Anne misses her train, Jean-Louis offers her a lift back to Paris in his car, and she accepts.
They talk about their lives, their careers and their departed spouses. They feel comfortable in each other’s company and soon become good friends.
On completing the arduous Monte Carlo rally, Jean-Louis receives an unexpected telegram from Anne, affirming what he has always known. Without a moment’s delay, he heads back to Paris, to the woman he loves, to a future of unbridled happiness.
But the romance is threatened by Anne’s inability to let go of her past. –filmsdefrance.com
Cast: Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Pierre Barouh, Valérie Lagrange, Antoine Sire
Cannes (In Competition): Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, OCIC Award
The film is known for its lush photography, which features frequent segues among full color, black-and-white, and sepia-toned shots, and for its music score by Francis Lai.
A Man and a Woman sold a total of 4,272,000 cinema tickets in France and was the sixth highest-grossing film of the year. The film won several awards, including the Palme d'Or at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, two Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress – Drama (for Aimée), and two Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay.
A sequel, A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later, was released in 1986, followed by The Best Years of a Life, which was released in 2019.
Read about this film
Title: A Man and a Woman | Un homme et une femme (1966)
Directed by: Claude Lelouch
Date of birth: 30 October 1937, Paris, France
Writing credits:
Pierre Uytterhoeven
Music by: Francis Lai
Country: France
Language: French
Color: Color | Black & White
Runtime: 102 min.