Claude Lelouch

Directing

Claude Lelouch

Born 1937-10-30 · Paris, France

Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch (born 30 October 1937) is a French film director, writer, cinematographer, actor and producer. Lelouch grew up in an Algerian Jewish family. He emerged as a prominent director in the 1960s. Lelouch gained critical acclaim for his 1966 romantic melodrama film A Man and A Woman. At the 39th Academy Awards in 1967, A Man and a Woman won Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film. Lelouch was also nominated for Best Director. While his films have gained him international recognition since the 1960s, Lelouch's methods and style of film are known for attracting criticism. Lelouch was born in the 9th arrondissement of Paris to Charlotte (née Abeilard) and Simon Lelouch. His father was born to an Algerian Jewish family while his mother was a convert to Judaism. Lelouch says that his first contact with cinema was very young: "My mother hid me in movie theaters when I was little. We were wanted by the Gestapo. [...] Cinema, for starters, saved my life." Of his personal faith, he says "Today I believe in God. My faith was sparked when I made a film in Israel. Over there, it is impossible not to believe in God. I loved the places of worship of all the religions. Everything which happens is for the best. I sometimes have the feeling that my inspiration comes from heaven. I think it is wonderful to be Jewish." His father bought him a camera as a fresh start after his failure in the baccalaureat. He started his career with a reportage – one of the first to film daily life in the Soviet Union, with the camera hidden under his coat as he made his personal journey. He also filmed sporting events, like the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Tour de France. Lelouch served in the French Army working in the film unit where he made over 100 films. He was demobilized in 1960. His first full-length film as director, Le Propre de l'homme, was decried by the critics: "Claude Lelouch, remember this name well, because you will not hear it again" – Cahiers du cinéma said. La femme spectacle (1963), following prostitutes, women shopping, going for nose-jobs, was censored for its misogynist tendency. A Man and a Woman changed his fortunes and was met with favour even by the Cahiers group. The 1981 musical epic Les Uns et les Autres is widely considered as his masterpiece, and his credits now add up to 50 or so films. His 1976 film, C'était un rendez-vous purportedly features a Ferrari 275 GTB being driven at extreme speed through the streets of Paris at dawn. The entire short is shot from the point of view of the car. Legend has it that Lelouch was arrested after it was first shown publicly. In a 2006 interview, Lelouch stated that he drove his own Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 in the film and created a soundtrack of the radically different sounding Italian sports car for effect. He collaborated more than two dozen times with composer Francis Lai. They scored a great hit with the theme song for the film A Man and a Woman sung by Nicole Croisille and Pierre Barouh, and more than 300 versions of the song exist. In 1993 he was the president of the jury at the 18th Moscow International Film Festival. ... Source: Article "Claude Lelouch" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Acting credits

Resistencia Cultural poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Resistencia Cultural

2021

Bardot poster
8.3

An intimate look at the life of international icon Brigitte Bardot. With exclusive access and the full support of Brigitte Bardot and her team, we will uncover her life, with its hardships, trials and struggles, her work and her legacy.

Bardot

2025

Happy New Year poster
5.8

Small time crooksters Nick and Charlie have an elaborate plan to rob an exclusive jewelers store. Using a variety of disguises and posing as rich old men and women they begin the set-up, but then Nick falls for the owner of a neighboring antique store and things get a little complicated.

Happy New Year

1987

Happy New Year poster
5.8

Small time crooksters Nick and Charlie have an elaborate plan to rob an exclusive jewelers store. Using a variety of disguises and posing as rich old men and women they begin the set-up, but then Nick falls for the owner of a neighboring antique store and things get a little complicated.

Happy New Year

1987

The Original+ poster
6.0

Canal+ Group hosted a live splashy American-style upfront presentation the Olympia in Paris, unveiling their prestige 2026 slate.

The Original+

2025

The Legend of the Palme d’Or Continues poster
NR

Ten years after the first documentary, the legend of the Palme d’Or… continues. Some new laureates of the Cannes trophy relive, for us, the very special moments surrounding the awarding of the Palme d’Or.

The Legend of the Palme d’Or Continues

2025

Je m'appelle Régine et je vous emmerde ! poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Je m'appelle Régine et je vous emmerde !

2025

L'Œuvre invisible poster
NR

This profile of director Alexandre Trannoy is profoundly moving. But you would be forgiven for asking 'Alexandre who?' because Trannoy never completed a single film in his 30-year career, despite working on multiple projects and with illustrious names like Jean Rochefort, Anouk Aimée, Lino Ventura and Marlene Dietrich. A fascinating study of a noble dreamer.

L'Œuvre invisible

2026

Belmondo, itinéraire... poster
7.7

Documentary on the career of Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Belmondo, itinéraire...

2011

Far West poster
6.5

This Belgian/French tale chronicles the efforts of Jacques (Jacques Brel) to find the Old West in modern America. Dressed as cowboy, he travels throughout western American cities and towns and finds others similarly dressed. These idealists gather together and build an old-western-style town in the middle of an abandoned factory, battling local bureaucracies in the process.

Far West

1973

D'un film à l'autre poster
7.9

On April 13, 2011, Les Films 13 production company turned 50. How can one celebrate an anniversary of this sort ? By simply making "another" film that would sum up all the earlier ones. D'un film à l'autre is hence a kind of anthology of the films produced Les Films 13 since the 1960s (short and feature films written and directed for the main part by Claude Lelouch), a best-of of half a century of cinema, going from Le Propre de l'homme to What Love May Bring. A biography in images of a filmmaker as admired as he is criticized. In reality, D'un film à l'autre is more than a series of film excerpts, interviews, and making-of documents (some of which possess an undeniable historical value, like that from A Man and A Woman, or the final performances of Patrick Dewaere).

D'un film à l'autre

2011

Belmondo: The Incorrigible poster
8.2

Charismatic and resourceful, seducer and daredevil, Jean-Paul Belmondo has always played his roles as he lived, at a thousand miles an hour. He had only one passion: to entertain the public with his smile, his naturalness, his energy, his stunts. But contrary to appearances, his destiny was full of pitfalls. This film lifts the veil on a founding childhood that allowed him to overcome many obstacles throughout his life thanks to the tutelary figures of his father and mother. Told from the inside with the help of his autobiography, interviews and unpublished archives, this epic story traces the career of this turbulent young actor who launched the New Wave in Breathless before becoming the popular Bebel, an indestructible and provocative vigilante. From film to film, this documentary paints an intimate portrait of a man who built himself up to reach the top: his triumphs but also his trials, his doubts, his secrets, his angers, his clowning, his disappointments or his personal dramas.

Belmondo: The Incorrigible

2022

Trintignant by Trintignant poster
6.8

A portrait of a man of rare elegance and enigmatic charm, versatile and successful: Jean-Louis Trintignant, one of the most critically acclaimed French actors of the last sixty years, known for his numerous roles on stage and screen.

Trintignant by Trintignant

2021

Long Live Life poster
6.0

The movie starts with an interview with director Claude Lelouch. He pleads viewers not to disclose the plot of the movie after leaving the projection room. Even the movie's trailer shows only a long sequence of faces gazing speechlessly in space. "Like all my movies, this one is about a man and a woman", says Lelouch in the interview.

Long Live Life

1984

Visions of Eight poster
7.1

Eight acclaimed filmmakers bring their unique and differing perspectives to the 1972 Summer Olympic Games held in Munich. The segments include Lelouch's take on Olympic losers and their struggle to remain dignified even in the face of bitter disappointment and defeat; Zetterling's dramatic exploration of the world of weightlifting; and Pfleghar's piece on young Russian gymnast Ludmilla Tourischev's majestic performance on the uneven bars.

Visions of Eight

1973

One 4 All poster
4.2

Olivia, Irina and Masha are improving their acting skills. They no longer believe in Prince Charming, and their career is waning. Olivia works at the front desk at the airport and offers a wonderful plan: he would do so that friends will be aboard the Paris - New York plane and will sit next to wealthy men. Their task is to seduce the rich and pull them out of money. But the fraudsters do not suspect that Comissaire Bayard and his young assistant are closely watching them...

One 4 All

1999

Belmondo by Belmondo poster
7.8

Jean-Paul Belmondo returns to the settings of a fantastic career, accompanied by his son Paul. Over a career spanning 50 years, Jean-Paul Belmondo’s movies drew over 130 million people into cinemas. This logbook takes us back to sets and countries, from where we can revisit the films in reference and find out about his fruitful collaborations with various directors. Paul Belmondo will lead the investigation, meeting the stars and his father’s friends (eye-witnesses all) and questioning his father about his journey, sharing it with us so we can discover the man and his story like never before.

Belmondo by Belmondo

2016

Jacques Villeret, drôlement tragique poster
6.3

No synopsis available yet.

Jacques Villeret, drôlement tragique

2025

La Saga du Napoléon d'Abel Gance poster
4.0

The incredible adventure of what was supposed to be a three-month inventory project turned into a vast undertaking lasting more than fourteen years, an extraordinary reconstruction and restoration with unexpected twists and turns of one of the masterpieces of world cinema: Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance (1927).

La Saga du Napoléon d'Abel Gance

2025

Shoot to Live poster
6.2

A documentary on filmmaker Claude Lelouch, following him over seven years.

Shoot to Live

2022

A Day in the Life of French Cinema poster
7.0

Documentary showing one day of work of over 90 actors and filmmakers from French cinema on the same day. On 27 March 2002, 27 teams filmed actors, directors, producers and technicians at work, from Hawaii to Paris and from New York to Lisbon.

A Day in the Life of French Cinema

2002

Jean-Louis Trintignant - Mystérieux et insaisissable poster
6.0

"And God Created Woman", "Il Sorpasso", "A Man and a Woman", "The Conformist", "Amour"... the list of successes by Jean-Louis Trintignant (1930-2022) may be impressive but his films say little about the man himself. A look back over the life of a discrete and deliberately enigmatic actor.

Jean-Louis Trintignant - Mystérieux et insaisissable

2022

Bernard, Albert et l'Empereur poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Bernard, Albert et l'Empereur

2021

Jean-Marie fête Bigard poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Jean-Marie fête Bigard

2019

Behind the camera

September 11 poster
6.4

Eleven directors from eleven countries each contribute an eleven-minute short reflecting on the events of 11 September 2001: A village teacher in Iran tries to explain to her young students what's happened; city kids in Burkina Faso think they've spotted Osama bin Laden; a deaf Frenchwoman in Manhattan writes a Dear John letter to a man who left that morning for work at the World Trade Center; a Chilean remembers Allende; events recall other deaths; a mother endures more than her son's death. Tones vary, as do the locales. Most concern coming to terms with the events of the day, but at least one confronts the viewer with tragedy and death.

September 11

2002

September 11 poster
6.4

Eleven directors from eleven countries each contribute an eleven-minute short reflecting on the events of 11 September 2001: A village teacher in Iran tries to explain to her young students what's happened; city kids in Burkina Faso think they've spotted Osama bin Laden; a deaf Frenchwoman in Manhattan writes a Dear John letter to a man who left that morning for work at the World Trade Center; a Chilean remembers Allende; events recall other deaths; a mother endures more than her son's death. Tones vary, as do the locales. Most concern coming to terms with the events of the day, but at least one confronts the viewer with tragedy and death.

September 11

2002

To Each His Own Cinema poster
6.4

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

To Each His Own Cinema

2007

Lumière & Company poster
6.3

40 international directors were asked to make a short film using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière Brothers, working under conditions similar to those of 1895. There were three rules: (1) The film could be no longer than 52 seconds, (2) no synchronized sound was permitted, and (3) no more than three takes.

Lumière & Company

1995

A Man and a Woman poster
7.3

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that they have something deeply in common.

A Man and a Woman

1966

A Man and a Woman poster
7.3

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that they have something deeply in common.

A Man and a Woman

1966

A Man and a Woman poster
7.3

A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly, they reveal themselves to each other, finding that they have something deeply in common.

A Man and a Woman

1966

The King of Ads poster
4.3

A collection of European T.V. commercials directed by a variety of well-known directors from across Europe and the U.S. Compiled and produced by Jean-Marie Boursicot.

The King of Ads

1991

At the End of the Day poster
5.9

In an increasingly crazy world, Lino, who has decided to leave everything behind, will come to realise that, at the end of the day, everything that happens to us is for our own good!

At the End of the Day

2024

At the End of the Day poster
5.9

In an increasingly crazy world, Lino, who has decided to leave everything behind, will come to realise that, at the end of the day, everything that happens to us is for our own good!

At the End of the Day

2024

At the End of the Day poster
5.9

In an increasingly crazy world, Lino, who has decided to leave everything behind, will come to realise that, at the end of the day, everything that happens to us is for our own good!

At the End of the Day

2024

Going and Coming Back poster
6.5

Salomé Lerner just finished writing an autobiography. She goes to a TV show called "Apostrophes", hosted by French TV showman Bernard Pivot. Pivot then imagines a film that could be created from her gripping story. A film entirely made of music because after seeing the young pianist Erik Berchot, Salomé believes seeing her long lost brother, who was a musician as well. A brother she had lost along with her parents in 1943. However, the Lerners did in fact escape the gestapo and might have based themselves in Paris...

Going and Coming Back

1985

Going and Coming Back poster
6.5

Salomé Lerner just finished writing an autobiography. She goes to a TV show called "Apostrophes", hosted by French TV showman Bernard Pivot. Pivot then imagines a film that could be created from her gripping story. A film entirely made of music because after seeing the young pianist Erik Berchot, Salomé believes seeing her long lost brother, who was a musician as well. A brother she had lost along with her parents in 1943. However, the Lerners did in fact escape the gestapo and might have based themselves in Paris...

Going and Coming Back

1985

Molière poster
6.1

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin is raised by his father and his grandfather because his mother dies when he's still very little. He works as a handyman, studies the law at a university and travels the country as an actor before he becomes the celebrated playwright Molière who impresses firstly the Duke of Orleans and then even King Louis XIV.

Molière

1978

Love Is a Funny Thing poster
6.3

A composer and a French film star, both of whom are married to others, meet and fall in love while shooting a film in the United States.

Love Is a Funny Thing

1969

Cat and Mouse poster
5.7

A jaded and charming police inspector is assigned along with his cheerful partner to a case involving the mysterious death and/or suicide of a wealthy entrepreneur. The chief suspect is his enchanting wife who was aware that her husband had a mistress. It is also possible that the dead man may be the victim of a radical terrorist group.

Cat and Mouse

1975

Cat and Mouse poster
5.7

A jaded and charming police inspector is assigned along with his cheerful partner to a case involving the mysterious death and/or suicide of a wealthy entrepreneur. The chief suspect is his enchanting wife who was aware that her husband had a mistress. It is also possible that the dead man may be the victim of a radical terrorist group.

Cat and Mouse

1975

Cat and Mouse poster
5.7

A jaded and charming police inspector is assigned along with his cheerful partner to a case involving the mysterious death and/or suicide of a wealthy entrepreneur. The chief suspect is his enchanting wife who was aware that her husband had a mistress. It is also possible that the dead man may be the victim of a radical terrorist group.

Cat and Mouse

1975

The Crook poster
7.1

A thief known as Simon the Swiss faces up and downs in his criminal profession.

The Crook

1970

The Crook poster
7.1

A thief known as Simon the Swiss faces up and downs in his criminal profession.

The Crook

1970

All That... for This?! poster
6.2

The plot is about a trial against three men who tried to earn loads of money by illegal methods to get to Canada and about the lawyers and the judge who get on with the trial and who are being unfaithful to their couples.

All That... for This?!

1993

All That... for This?! poster
6.2

The plot is about a trial against three men who tried to earn loads of money by illegal methods to get to Canada and about the lawyers and the judge who get on with the trial and who are being unfaithful to their couples.

All That... for This?!

1993

All That... for This?! poster
6.2

The plot is about a trial against three men who tried to earn loads of money by illegal methods to get to Canada and about the lawyers and the judge who get on with the trial and who are being unfaithful to their couples.

All That... for This?!

1993

Everyone's Life poster
4.6

Before being judges, attorneys, or jury members, they are first of all men and women at a crossroads in their lives, with their dreams and their secrets, their hopes and their limitations, all beneath the same sun, each with their own dark side. In a lovely provincial town, during a jazz festival, life will juggle with their destinies.

Everyone's Life

2017