Lelouch, Claude

(October 30, 1937, Paris, France-)

   The son of a Jewish confectioner, he knew very young that cinema would be his life. His first short, Le Mal du Siècle, won a prize at the Cannes Amateur Film Festival. During his twenty-eight months of his military service, he shot documentaries for the ar­my's Cinematographic Service. Having returned to civilian life, he directed commercials and scopitones (musical shorts). His first feature films were com­mercial failures. One of them remains unfinished, and he even destroyed release prints of Le Propre de l'Homme. After six years of bad luck, he suddenly won international fame thanks to Un Homme et une Femme / UK and USA: A Man and a Woman, for which he shared the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and won two Oscars (best foreign film, best original story and screenplay). He created his own production company, Les Films 13, which financed his films and many others' pictures (1968 Les Gauloise's bleues, as co-producer, Michel Cournot; Benito Cereno, as co-producer, Serge Roullet, France / Spain; Sept Jours ailleurs, as co-producer, Marin Karmitz; 1969 L'Américain, as co-producer, Marcel Bozzuffi; L'Indiscret, as co-producer, François Reichenbach; 1970 Cama­rades, as co-producer, Marin Karmitz; Le Clair de Terre, as co-producer, Guy Gilles; Le Maître du Temps / O homem das Estrelas, as co-producer, Jean-Daniel Pol-let, France / Brazil; 1971 Bonaparte et la Révolution, as producer, Abel Gance; 1972 Comme dans la Vie, short, as producer, Pierre Willemin; 1973 Far West / Le Far West, as co-producer, also actor, Jacques Brel, France / Belgium; Turkye, short, as producer, Pierre Willemin; Un Homme libre, as producer, Roberto Muller; 1978 Molière, as delegate producer, Ariane Mnouchkine; 1980 Alors, heureux?, as executive producer, Claude Barrois; 1985 Ni avec toi ni sans toi, as co-producer, Alain Maline; 1987 Cayenne Palace, as co-producer, Alain Maline; 1994 Le Voleur et la Menteuse, as co-producer, Paul Boujenah; 2006 Nos Amis les Terriens, as producer, Bernard Werber; Entre Adultes, as co-producer, Stéphane Brizé). He appeared as himself in a few films (1987 Happy New Year, John G. Avildsen; 1995 Lumière et Compagnie / Lumiere y compania, segment directed by Sarah Moon, France / Spain; 2001 Who Is Bernard Tapie?, documentary, Marina Zenovich, USA; 2004 Epreuves d'Artistes, Samuel Faure, Gilles Jacob) and TV documentaries (1966 Cinéastes de notre Temps, documentary, episode "Et pourtant ils tourn­ent", Claude-Jean Philippe; 1974 Histoire du Cinéma français par ceux qui l'ont fait, documentary, Armand Panigel; 1996 Belmondo le Magnifique, Patrick Cham-mings; 1999 Jean-Pierre Aumont, Charme et Fous-Rires, documentary, Patty Villiers; 2002 Les 13 Vies du Chat Lelouch, documentary, Isabelle Clarke; 2003 Jacques Dutronc: L'Ere de Rien, documentary, Richard Valverde; 2007 Cannes: 60 Ans d'Histoires, documentary, Gilles Nadeau; Claude Lelouch, on s'aimera, documentary, Stéphane Krausz). Autobiography: 2000 Itinéraire d'un Enfant très gâté (Robert Laffont).

 Filmography

1953 ◘ Le Mal du Siècle (short)

1956 ◘ Une Ville comme les Autres (documentary; short)

        ◘ USA en Vrac (documentary; short)

1957 ◘ Quand le Rideau se lève (documentary; short)

1959 ◘ Madame conduit (short)

1961 ◘ Le Propre de l'Homme (also screenwriter, dialogist; producer, actor; release prints destroyed by Claude Lelouch)

        ◘ La Vie de Château (unfinished)

        ◘ La Femme Spectacle / USA: Night Women / Paris in the Raw (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, producer; unreleased)

        ◘ Vingt-Quatre Heures d'Amant (documentary; short)

        ◘ Une Fille et des Fusils / UK and USA: To Be a Crook (also co-screenwriter, dialogist, producer, cameraman, producer)

        ◘ Les Grands Moments (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, cinematographer, producer; unreleased; master print destroyed by Claude Lelouch)

        ◘ Pour un Maillot jaune / USA: For a Yellow Jersey (short)

        ◘ Jean-Paul Belmondo (documentary; short)

        ◘ L'Amour avec des si . . . (short; also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, producer, production man­ager, cinematographer, editor; shot in 1962)

        ◘ Un Homme et une Femme / UK and USA: A Man and a Woman (also screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer, cinematographer, editor)

        ◘ Vivre pour vivre / Vivere per vivere / USA: Live for Life (also screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer, editor; France / Italy)

        ◘ Loin du Vietnam / USA: Far from Vietnam (documentary; co-director only)

        ◘ Treize Jours en France / UK: Challenge in the Snow / USA: Grenoble (documentary; also cam­eraman, producer, editor; co-director with François Reichenbach)

        ◘ La Vie, l'Amour, la Mort / La vita, l'amore, la morte / USA: Life Love Death (also screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, co-producer; France / Italy)

        ◘ Un Homme qui me plaît / Un tipo che mi piace / UK: A Man I Like / USA: Love Is a Funny Thing (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, co-producer; France / Italy)

1970 ◘ Le Voyou / La canaglia / UK: Simon the Swiss / USA: The Crook (also screenwriter, co-adapter, dialogist, producer, cinematographer; France / Italy)

        ◘ Smic Smac Smoc (also screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer, cinematographer; France / Italy)

        ◘ L'Aventure, c'est l'Aventure / L'avventura è l'avventura / UK and USA: Money Money Money (also screenwriter, adapter, producer, cinematographer; France / Italy)

        ◘ Un Homme et un Bateau (unfinished)

1973 ◘ La Bonne Année / Una donna, una canaglia / USA: Happy New Year (also screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, cinematographer, producer; France / Italy)

        ◘ Visions of Eight / US TV: Olympic Visions / Munchen 1972—8 beruhmte Regisseure Sehen die Spiele der XX. Olympiade / West German TV: Olympiade Munchen (segment "The Los­ers"; co-director only; USA / West Germany)

1974 ◘ Toute une Vie / Tutta una vita / USA: And Now My Love (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, co-producer; France / Italy)

        ◘ Lour une Course (short)

        ◘ Mariage (also screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Le Chat et la Souris / UK: Seven Suspects for Murder / USA: Cat and Mouse (also screenwriter, dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Le Bon et les Méchants / UK: The Good Guys and the Bad Guys / USA: The Good and the Bad (also screenwriter, co-dialogist, cinematographer, producer)

        ◘ Si c'était à refaire / UK: Second Chance / USA: If I Had to Do It All Over Again (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Rendez-vous (short)

        ◘ Un Autre Homme, une autre Chance / UK: An­other Man, Another Woman / USA: Another Man, Another Chance (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, co-producer; France / USA)

        ◘ Robert et Robert (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, delegate producer)

        ◘ A nous Deux / UK: Us Two / USA: An Adventure for Two (also screenwriter, dialogist, co-producer; France / Canada)

        ◘ Un Après-Midi avec les Moteurs (short)

1981 ◘ Les Uns et les Autres / UK: Within Memory / USA: Bolero (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, delegate producer)

        ◘ Il a besoin (short)

        ◘ Edith et Marcel / USA: Edith and Marcel (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Viva la Vie! (also screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, cameraman, producer)

        ◘ Partir, revenir (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Un Homme et une Femme: 20 Ans déjà (also screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Attention Bandits! (also screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer)

        ◘ Itinéraire d'un Enfant gâté / Der Lôwe (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, co-producer; France / West Germany)

1990 ◘ Il y a des Jours . . . et des Lunes (also screenwriter, co-dialogist, delegate producer)

        ◘ La Belle Histoire (also screenwriter, co-dialogist, co-producer)

        ◘ Tout ça . . . pour ça! (also screenwriter, dialogist, producer, cinematographer)

        ◘ Les Misérables du XXè Siècle (also screenwriter, adapter, dialogist, producer, cameraman)

        ◘ Lumière et compagnie / Lumiere y compania (co-director only; France / Denmark / Spain / Sweden)

        ◘ Hommes et Femmes: Mode d'Emploi (also screenwriter, co-dialogist, producer)

1998 ◘ Hasards ou Coïncidences / UK: Chance or Co­incidence (also screenwriter, co-dialogist, co-producer; France / Canada)

2000 ◘ Une pour toutes (also screenwriter, dialogist, producer, actor)

2002 ◘ And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, co-producer, cameraman; France / UK)

        ◘ ll'09"0l—September 11 / ll'09"0l—Sep-tember ll: Onze Minutes, neuf secondes, une Image (French segment; UK / France / USA / Egypt / Japan / Mexico / Iran)

        ◘ Le Genre humain—lère partie: Les Parisiens (also co-screenwriter, adapter, co-dialogist, producer, actor as himself)

        ◘ Le Courage d'aimer (also screenwriter, adapter, co-dialogist, producer, actor as himself)

2007 ◘ Chacun son Cinéma ou Ce Petit Coup au Cœur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (shorts; segment "Cinéma de Boulevard")

        ◘ Roman de Gare / US festival: Crossed Tracks (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, producer)

 Television Filmography

1983 ◘ Les Uns et les Autres (5 X 52'; also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, delegate producer)