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Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Pierre Barouh, Valérie Lagrange, Henri Chemin ... see more see more... , Simone Paris , Yane Barry , Souad Amidou , Paul Le Person , Antoine Sire , Gerard Sire

The ultimate "date" movie of the mid-1960s, director Claude Lelouch's A Man and a Woman (Un Homme et Une Femme) stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimee in the title roles. The twosome meet at the... read more read more... boarding school where their children are enrolled. Aimee, an actress, misses her train home, and Trintignant, a professional race car driver, offers her a ride. It is the first of several friendly encounters which eventually blossom into love. Both want to commit to each other, but neither can shake the Past. The now-famous climactic scene in a train station was not scripted at the time of shooting, thus Aimee was unaware that director Lelouch had decided upon a tearful reunion between her and Trintignant. This explains the look of utter surprise on the actress' face. Much has been written about the possible motivation behind Lelouch's decision to film some scenes in color, others in black-and-white. None of the more ardent auterists truly want to hear the director's explanation: he'd run short of money halfway through production, and black-and-white film stock was infinitely cheaper. The winner of two Oscars (one for Best Foreign Film), A Man and A Woman also scored on the "top ten" with its memorable theme music by Francis Lai. A sequel, A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later appeared....twenty years later. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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85% liked it

5,225 ratings

Critics

75% liked it

12 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 42 min.

Directed by: Claude Lelouch

Release Date: January 1, 1966

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DVD Release Date: March 18, 2003

Stats: 275 reviews

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Trintignant in 'Un homme et une femme' Anouk Aimee in A Man and a Woman A Man and a Woman A Man and a Woman Anouk Aimee in A Man and A Woman
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Flixster Reviews (275)

  • groaningbitch
    April 30, 2009
    groaningbitch
    "un homme et une femme"(a man and a woman) is one of the popular french new wave movies which had swept over america with its monpoly on the market of foreign cinema then in 1966.

    the intertextuality of the synchronized events in various field is my usual thinking mode, the a... read morepproach new wave applies on non-linear story-telling is highly influenced by the rising popularity of french new-novel like margret duras. the theory is to dissect the fragments of living events then sew them up together spontaneously as the protagonist's freewheeling minds lead. so you witness one segment of past or the envisage of future jumps to the present as our mind usually reels randomly into various visceral images at one moment. you could deem it as the deficiency of attention focus or lack of concentration, but the course of sentimentaity and human emotions are inclined to occur more often in this way since distractions've become more of common symptom due to the contagion of media.

    the most frequent set in "un homme et une femme" is within the car when the leads are chattering about each other, but you cannot really grasp too much within the conversations but the rampant images conjured up by the leads as they utter their tales of life. rather than dialogue-driven, it's prompted mainly by visionary scenes, intermittent narrations there from the man to speak of his mind and his motivations and hesitations on certain actions of his, but never the woman's? woman here stays as the enigmatic muse for the man to covet just like the conventional state of genders. (so it cannot be a sentimental chic flick but a romantic male-centered movie about a man's infatuation over a woman,)

    for audience like me who watches too many american or anglophilic films may find it a slackening dozer but still somehow refreshed by such novelty of story-telling, at least it is faithful to its simplicity without over-flaunting the new-wave expertises to over-complicate the matters. the soundtrack is dreamily metropolitan and the views of those locations seem to be idyllic to demonstrate those ordinary but lovely sceneries in france like mobile postcards. boredom may strike you during watching it, but it gives you a hearty smile at the final 15 mins with a reasonable twist like the miracle most people in love would pray for.

    the notably creative scene would probably be two leads making love when the woman thinks of the memories of intimacy with her demised husband that leaves the man cold as his partner's mind drifts over somewhere else, and the lady's comment is simply "i never lie to you that he's dead but he still lives in my heart"..such frastrating honesty. there's no melodrama but brief moments of life's absurdity in a realistic way. also there's nothing too intense or provocatively passionate about "un homme et une femme" but those possible scenarios which might happen to some of us who have the bless to fall in love.

    (ps) my best advice would be listening to the soundtrack, as the director claims that he chose the music for the story he wrote first then everything else was built along the moods of melodies. indeed the soundtrack of "un homme et une femme" is probably one of the best in cinematic history, without it the movie could be a complete bore.
  • pier007
    November 27, 2007
    pier007
    Classy, touching and beautiful mosaic about the prelude and aftermath of love. great photography and score.
  • hypathio7
    December 22, 2008
    hypathio7
    I wasn't very interested in the characters. The story was slow and the version I saw on video had really bad voices dubbing the English. You could especially tell that the voices of the kids of the man and woman were being dubbed by adults talking in a higher pitched voice to t... read morery to sound like children.
  • Autodidactive
    July 21, 2008
    Autodidactive
    I don't quite understand why this film is regarded as highly as it is, but it is stylish (what an overused, albeit accurate, adjective for Lelouch's work) and sensitively done. Trintignant is perfect as a man obviously smitten - he's good at unabashed sensitivity without being sa... read moreppy and annoying. The seemingly improvised bits (i.e. the dinner interplay with the kids) are good, too.
  • caffeinatedalex
    October 5, 2007
    caffeinatedalex
    Wonderfully scripted, acted, and directed. The film utilizes captivating flashback techniques, and takes no shame in focusing for long times on aspects that may not be completely related to the plot. In this way, it helps capture the beauty of everything, emphasizing it's take on... read more love. The romance is well established and played so wonderfully by the two lead actors, and the dialogue is just incredible. This is a terrific movie.
  • pkuwinter
    August 14, 2007
    pkuwinter
    #1 Forever.
    I was a film major and saw this movie in a class and it became my No.1 movie immediately and has been ever since. This film is where you think maybe movie can be art and really influence people's life. the storyline is simple but the mood of the film is so deep but na... read moretural. I especially like the part when Anne and Jean-Louis walk on the beach in the late afternoon and talk about the story of an artist and his cat. Lelouch did the love story about two mid-age parents when he was 28 and he did a brilliant job. He couldn't afford all colored film but he totally made this film a colored/ black-and-white style classic. The only scene looks bad in color and should be in black-and-white is the scene with Jean-Louis's ex. a great movie and it doesn't age at all.
  • EarwenPixie
    May 1, 2007
    EarwenPixie
    A very interesting movie making style. This is a very intuitive romance where talking is sparse. I enjoyed this movie!
  • joycefricken
    October 29, 2006
    joycefricken
    I saw this when I was about 15. I can hardly remember it though. Maybe I was too young to really understand it. Or maybe I was more interested in the guys behind us who were trying to toss popcorn down our blouses.

View All A Man and a Woman Reviews

Critic Reviews

Don Druker
January 15, 2008
Don Druker, Chicago Reader

It's full of misty romps in the meadows, rain-soaked windshields, assorted puppies and lambs, and a 'bittersweet' theme song that drones incessantly on the sound track. Full Review

Variety Staff
January 15, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

Anouk Aimee has a mature beauty and an ability to project an inner quality that helps stave off the obvious banality of her character, and this goes too for the perceptive Jean-Louis Trintignant as th... Full Review

Bosley Crowther
May 9, 2005
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

They seem two dimly sentient beings moved by memories of conventional affections and the compulsions of ordinary love. Full Review

January 15, 2008
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Effusively romantic, visually stunning, slightly bland. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
February 5, 2007
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Style is everything in Lelouch's romantic melodrama, one of the 1960s most popular international hits, due to the music and chemistry between the glamorous Anouk Aimee and the sexy Trintignant, both a... Full Review

February 9, 2006
Time Out

Notoriously schmaltzy but still undeniably eye-catching. Full Review

Steve Crum
October 15, 2004
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan

Pretty tepid romantic stuff here, but still a catchy title song.

May 24, 2003
Film4

Although bits of it will look hackneyed to current viewers, at the time it was sensationally sexy (and was a global smash hit) and it has retained an enjoyable sensuality and charm. Full Review

Nick Davis
May 9, 2003
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks

It gift-wraps the agonies and ecstasies of impish, beautiful people with kooky jobs and private pains in the shiny paper of gorgeously superficial imagery. Full Review

Mark Robison
April 2, 2003
Mark Robison, Reno Gazette-Journal

Good for romantics Full Review

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