Claude Lelouch - Life and Career

Life and Career

Lelouch was born in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, the son of Charlotte (née Abeilard) and Simon Lelouch. His father was an Algerian Jew and his mother was a convert to Judaism. His father gave him a camera to give him a fresh start after his failure in the baccalaureat. He started his career with reportage - one of the first to film daily life in the U.S.S.R., the camera hidden under his coat as he made his personal journey. He also filmed sporting events like the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Tour de France.

His first full length film as director, Le Propre de l'homme, was decried by the critics - 'Claude Lelouch, remember this name well, because you will not hear it again' - Cahiers du cinéma said. La femme spectacle (1963), following prostitutes, women shopping, going for nose-jobs, was censored for its misogynist tendency. Un homme et une femme changed his fortunes and was met with favour even by the Cahiers group. Legend has it that Lelouch found himself one morning on the beach at Deauville when he caught sight of a young woman and her child on the sand. He thought about her story, tried to put together the story of how she had arrived at that moment. The scenario for the film was born. Lelouch set in place here some of the techniques of his filming he will use all his career. He used the locations for decor (here, the Grand Hotel at Deauville), recycled images from his old films (here, the 24 Hours of Le Mans), and used product placement as a means of financing his work (here, Jean-Louis Trintignant and his Ford Mustang.)

The 1981 musical epic Les Uns et les Autres is widely considered as his masterpiece, and his credits now add up to 50 or so films.

Lelouch is known for making movies based heavily on improvised dialogue.

His 1976 film, C'était un rendez-vous, purportedly features a Ferrari 275 GTB being driven at extreme speed through the streets of Paris at dawn. The entire short is shot from the point of view of the car. Legend has it that Lelouch was arrested after it was first shown publicly. In a 2006 interview, the director stated that he drove his own Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 in the film and created a soundtrack of the radically different sounding Italian sports car for effect.

In recent years the public and the critics have seemed less interested in the director. The first part of his intended trilogy ' Le Genre Humain', 'Les Parisiens' was described in Paris Match as one of the most resounding flops of French cinema. Perhaps a director like Cedric Klapisch had replaced him in the hearts of the younger generation? Lelouch responded, ' It's true no doubt, my public has grown old. It stays home and watches television.'

He has collaborated on no fewer than 28 occasions with the composer Francis Lai. They scored a great hit with the piece 'chabadabada' for the film Un homme et une femme sung by Nicole Croisille and Pierre Barouh, and more than 300 versions of the song exist.

He is the father of 7 children: Simon (born May 20, 1969), Sarah (born June 7, 1976), Salomé Lelouch (born June 25, 1983), daughter Sabaya (born August 26, 1987), son Sachka (born September 13, 1989), daughter Shaya (born 1992) and Stella . He recently separated from wife Alessandra Martines, mother of his youngest daughter, Stella.