La bonne année (1973)

Director:

Claude Lelouch

Writers:

Claude Lelouch (original scenario)
Pierre Uytterhoeven (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

13 April 1973 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Released from prison apparently under a New Year amnesty, a criminal tries to pick up the threads of...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Jewelry Store | Face Mask | Parole | Antique Shop

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Lino Ventura	...	Simon
Françoise Fabian	...	Françoise
Charles Gérard	...	Charlot
André Falcon	...	Le bijoutier
Mireille Mathieu	...	Herself / Elle-même
Lilo	...	Madame Félix
Claude Mann	...	L'intellectuel
Frédéric de Pasquale	...	L'amant parisien
Gérard Sire	...	Le directeur de la prison
Silvano Tranquilli	...	L'amant italien
André Barello
Michel Bertay
Norman de la Chesnaye
Pierre Edeline
Pierre Pontiche

Also Known As:

Happy New Year (USA)
The Happy New Year Caper (USA) (promotional title)
Una donna e una canaglia (Italy)

Runtime:

France:90 min | Spain:115 min | Argentina:115 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl | USA:PG | Argentina:13

Company:

Les Films 13

Movie Connections:

Referenced in And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen... (2002)

we wish Lino Ventura a happy new year

Claude Lelouch is known for having left a copious filmography behind him and in which very few films reach the scale of the masterwork, except maybe "un Homme et Une Femme" (1966) and "la Vie, l'Amour, la Mort" (1969). A good proportion is to be pigeonholed in the category of entertaining, homespun films and "la Bonne Année" has its place among them.

Straddling between two genres: the gangster movie and the sentimental movie, the Lelouch 1973 vintage features Lino Ventura who is released from prison for the new year in 1968 and with a little help from his accomplish plans to commit a break-in to a jeweler's. But in parallel, he falls in love with a lovely female antique dealer.

These two types of cinematographic genres are difficult to handle together but as we are in Lelouch's universe you've got to accept the rules of the game. And the cohesive transition between them works thanks to Lelouch's fluid making and with a lot of humor going for it. I especially love the sequences when he dresses up as an old, rich man who visits the jeweler's and talks about his sister who is at hospital in a serious state. The steps of the operation are shot with clarity and precision. One also appreciates Lino Ventura's mischievous performance and the fact that Lelouch managed to subdue some superfluous features pertaining to him which aren't too overwhelming and are even funny to the pleasure of the projection. So, you can forgive the filmmaker for having incorporated pseudo-philosophical dialogs between Ventura and his female partner about love, wedding and the stability of the couple as well as being amused by a little juggling of the color and black and white concerning the cinematography. The outset and the end are shot in black and white, probably to give an arty feeling to the film even if one can deem this action as gratuitous.

But never mind, if you've got to list the ten most watchable films in Lelouch's work, this one should be part of it.