Claude Lelouch has successfully combined crime, politics and (lots of) romance for over 40 years. His films include the classic love story Un homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman), which picked up an Oscar for Best Story and Screenplay, and the Palme d'Or in 1966; box-office hits like 1964's crime caper, Une fille et des fusils (To Be A Crook); and the 1967 love and politics combo Vivre pour vivre (Live for Life), which nabbed the Grand Prix du Cinéma Français. More recently, the Paris-born director's credits have included 1994's Les misérables, 1993's Tout ça…pour ça! and various reworkings of Un homme et une femme, the film that made his international reputation.
Hommes, femmes: mode d'emploi (Men, Women: User's Manual) might be described as Deux hommes et deux femmes. Financed by Lelouch's Les Films 13 and TF1 Film Production for a reported US$10 million and shot in Paris, Île de France and the Pyrenees during January and February this year, it is the story of Benoît Blanc (Bernard Tapie) and Fabio Lini (Fabrice Luchini). Benoît has 'nearly everything and wants what he does not have', as Lelouch puts it, while Fabio has 'very little but wants to keep what he has'. The film starts in a hospital waiting room where the two meet, both suffering from ulcers spawned by their anxiety.
Women are central to their lives, and their worries, 'as vital as the air they breathe and as bothersome as the brake pedal when one wishes to accelerate', says Lelouch. Caroline Cellier plays the woman who had the bad idea to marry Benoît (who complains that 'once a woman has given you her heart, you can never get rid of the rest'). Agnès Soral is the somewhat luckier fiancée of Fabio (who believes '[a woman's] greatest ambition is to inspire love').
Benoît and Fabio bond, asking the same questions about love, work and health. 'Each will turn into the other's adventure, his model, his user's manual in a world that resembles a cryptic book,' says Lelouch. 'How can one decipher this user's manual?' asks the director. 'Must one live an entire life to learn how to live, or can one live first and turn to philosophy later? How can we avoid the two bouts of madness that happen when we fall in love and when our hair starts to grey?' The only course of action when confronted by this mid-life crisis, Lelouch concludes, is to see the funny side.
For this 'comédie inhumaine,' as it is billed, Lelouch has assembled an eclectic cast. Playing Benoît, Bernard Tapie is better known as France's former minister of urban affairs, made famous by his embezzlement, bribery and tax evasion convictions. Tapie, the former owner of sports firm Adidas and the Olympique Marseilles soccer team, who announced his resignation from the French national assembly this week, says his film debut for Lelouch made his role as politician one too many. 'I have paid too dearly for the mix of genres,' explains the man who received a suspended sentence for his financial improprieties.
Hommes, femmes also sees the appearance of old Lelouch favourites. Actress Alessandra Martines worked with Lelouch on his two previous features, Tout ça…pour ça! and Les misérables, while leading man Fabrice Luchini debuted for Lelouch in Tout ça…pour ça! Distinguished on both stage and screen, Luchini has also worked with Claude Chabrol (Violette nozière) and Eric Rohmer (Quatre aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle). He admits Lelouch's often improvised direction came as a shock the first time, and that 'he should have known better' when Lelouch offered him a part in Hommes, femmes. 'I was living in terror for two months,' he says. 'Yet I have never been so happy. Now, I hope this pleasure will be infectious.'
Selection for Venice suggests that this hope may well be fulfilled. Indeed, in terms of being infectious, Hommes, femmes has the considerable advantage of a soundtrack by Francis Lai, Lelouch's regular musician and purveyor of the freewheeling themes to Un homme et une femme and Un homme et une femme, vingt ans déjà. Adam Minns
Prod co: Les Films 13, TF1 Film Production
Prod/Dir: Claude Lelouch
Scr: Claude Lelouch, René Bonnell
Ph: David Koskas
Prod des: Jacques Bufnoir
Costumes: Dominique Borg
Music: Francis Lai
Ed: Hélène de Luze
Cast: Fabrice Luchini, Alessandra Martines, Bernard Tapie, Caroline Cellier
Running time: 120 mins
Int sales: Les Films 13
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