"A Man and a Woman" is about the simplest and least pretentious romantic story you are bound to find. This statement is important because most often the problem with the romantic comedy or the straight romance is that the story is often too contrived, far-fetched, and/or lacking in true human emotion. In this film we see how two people fall in love and better yet we don't even get a happily ever after type of ending but rather we see that these two people are willing to love again after having lost their first spouses. This film is also interesting in the way director Claude Lelouch structures his narrative. Not only do we never over-deal with the fact that they both lost their first loves we also find this information out at different times in the story and the information in the film is also communicated very visually which is interesting as opposed to hearing dialogue which if poorly delivered would come across as ham-handed. The psychological focus of the tale is definitely Anne Gauthier (Anouk Aimée). She is more the focus because we see both her falling in love with her first husband, Pierre, while "Samba da Bênção' by Toquinho and Vinicius was played. On a side note, the addition of Samba to a French film shows how much broader their cultural horizons are than ours are. It matter not that they might not understand Portuguese for they recognize the Samba as probably the most wonderful sound ever created. We see Anne meeting her first husband and also how he dies. Then as she consummates her relationship with Jean-Luc we see her thought process as she flashes back to her time with Pierre and how difficult loving another man is for her. One of the best parts of the film on Lelouch's part was when Valérie (Valérie Lagrange), Jean-Luc's first wife, is in the hospital after his accident. We see not only her strife but the passage of time through a series of jump cuts. I found this technique much more effective than a series of dissolves or on very long take. In this sequence we also see how sometimes telling can be more effective than showing as we do not see her commit suicide but rather hear Jean-Luc say it with sadness in his voice. Another interesting technique in this film was alerting between color and black and white. In the very beginning of the film it was used solely to differentiate between a flashback and the present tense but rather in a reversed way. The flashbacks were in color. This presents the present as more gritty and not as joyful whereas the flashbacks may not have been happier they certainly were more colorful as they are with most people. What's impressive about 'A Man and a Woman,' as is often the case with a lot of French films is it's simplicity. We deal with real people in a real type of story, plot devices and formulas are completely thrown out the window. And in this film what we get is a much more enjoyable experience than any Hollywood formula could possibly provide.
Review of A Man and a Woman
