Claude Lelouch wishes you a Happy New Year this evening on Arte

1973. For many (including Stanley Kubrick), it is the French filmmaker’s masterpiece. Lino Ventura plays against the odds for one of the rare times in his career. Or a rough guy, forced to change if he wants to seduce a very refined Françoise Fabian.

Before the month of January ends, Channel 7 will offer at 8:55 p.m. Happy New Yearby Claude Lelouch. Françoise Fabian And Lino Ventura embody a mismatched, but ultimately unforgettable couple.

It attracted more than 1 million spectators to the cinema in 1973 and has continued to delight viewers ever since. Stanley Kubrick spoke of it as his “favorite French film”, and had gotten into the habit of showing it to his actors before a shoot. In particular to Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman to prepare Eyes Wide Shut.

Heist film coupled with a romance, Happy New Year Although it is half a century old, it is still as striking. Lelouch films this strange couple, he a little unrefined gangster, macho of the old school and she, a beautiful, cultured and independent antiques dealer, in tune with her times and begins to consider male-female relationships in the light of developments in the society.

In 2015, when it came time to release One + One in the cinema, Claude Lelouch returned in Première, in the company of his main actor Jean Dujardin, to the most striking couples in his filmography. Here’s what the duo had to say about Happy New Year.

Claude : The writing of Happy New Year came from a realization: I realized that women no longer had confidence in men, that they found them disappointing, liars, cheats… In some way, they were putting me on trial. I had no trouble imagining this rough guy who breaks into safes and falls in love with a woman of his time. I immediately called Lino, excited, but he imposed a rule on me: he didn’t want to end up in bed with Françoise Fabian, for reasons of image, in relation to his wife and children. I was annoyed but I accepted. He finally did it understanding my intentions.

Jeans : Your intuition to take Lino is fantastic. We’ve never seen him smile like that at a woman on screen. The scene in the café, where they both talk freely, is pure Lelouch. Claude obtains this kind of result by staying on the actors for a long time, looking for very invisible things. It’s all a question of time and focus for him.

From A Man and a Woman to One + One: Lelouch and Dujardin comment on the filmmaker’s film