A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later (1986)

Jean-Louis and Anne have had their fling and separated. Now 20 years have passed. He is still dating various women. She is now a big time director whose most recent film was a very ... See full summary »

Director:

Claude Lelouch

Writers:

Claude Lelouch, Pierre Uytterhoeven

Stars:

Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Richard Berry

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anouk Aimée	...	Anne Gauthier
Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	Jean-Louis Duroc
Richard Berry	...	Richard Berry
Evelyne Bouix	...	Françoise
Marie-Sophie L.	...	Marie-Sophie (as Marie-Sophie Pochat)
Philippe Leroy	...	Professeur Thevenin / Professor Thevenin (as Philippe Leroy-Beaulieu)
Charles Gérard	...	Charlot
Patrick Poivre d'Arvor	...	Self / Patrick Poivre d'Arvor
Thierry Sabine	...	Thierry Sabine
Antoine Sire	...	Antoine
André Engel	...	Le metteur en scène / Film director
Robert Hossein	...	Robert Hossein
Jacques Weber	...	Jacques Weber
Tanya Lopert	...	Tanya Lopert
Nicole Garcia	...	Elle-même jouant 'Deux sur la balançoire'

Storyline

Jean-Louis and Anne have had their fling and separated. Now 20 years have passed. He is still dating various women. She is now a big time director whose most recent film was a very expensive bomb. She comes up with the idea of making a romance based upon her fling with Jean-Louis. She contacts him to gain his permission. Jean-Louis is still in racing and goes away for a desert rally while she begins filming. She finds the mood of their romance difficult to recapture in her film.

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | number in title | 

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Taglines:

Tout a change... sauf leurs passions.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by The Best Years of a Life (2019)

User Reviews

It Could Be A Greater Movie Than It Is

In 1966 a beautiful and very artistic film with a very simple story caught the attention of many movie lovers, the romantic and deep "Un Homme et Une Femme", directed by Claude Lelouch and starred by Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant playing the title roles. The movie won the Palm D'Or at Cannes and 2 Academy Awards and was well acclaimed by the public and the critics. 20 years later the same team returned and that return was named properly as "Une Homme et Une Femme, 20 ans Deja" ("A Man and a Woman, 20 Years Later"). The result is quite different of the original film but it has it's good moments and it's full of charm.

Jean-Louis (Trintignant) and Anne Gauthier (Aimee) were a happy couple in the 1960's but for some odd reason they split and follow different paths. Both got married with different persons. The former race car pilot married with a younger woman and now he drives in rallies; the actress is now a film producer married with a TV newscaster. Anne and Jean-Louis have the chance to meet each other again when Anne is producing a movie about their relationship and she wants his consent to make the film and remember the good old days, when they met, they got involved with each other and the song of their lives. But their partners aren't satisfied with that meeting and their jealousy might disturb the calm and lovely encounter.

OK, many have said that this film was unnecessary sequel, that it's weaker than the original film, that this a waste of time and that sometimes was hard to follow because it has an minor plot that looks dislocated of the movie and only near of the end you understand why the minor plot appeared. My opinion over "Un Homme et Une Femme, 20 ans Deja" is that Lelouch missed a good chance to make a great movie, way better than it is. It looks like a poor sequel of a great film mixed with Truffaut's "Le Nuit Americaine" ("Day by Night"). In Truffaut's movie we see all that happens during the making of a film, the actors relationship and the problems that happens while a movie is made. Same thing here. We don't have the chance to see the emotional changes between Anne and Jean-Louis, we've only seen talking about the film she's making and a little bit of their memories. It could have been like "Before the Sunset" was to "Before Sunrise", the reunion of what a passionate couple and their views on life, romance, marriage, fears, secrets, and other similar things discussed by couples when they split and met again years later. It lacked intelligence here, it lacked humor also. But at least you can see the physical difference between Anne and Jean-Louis. Lelouch alternate a few moments with scenes from "Un Homme et Une Femme" and this film. She's still beautiful, very charming; he looks like a villain taken of some B-movie, with beard, nothing similar to what he used to be, seductive and handsome.

Francis Lai's theme music appears here in a Jazz style, way different of the original film but it's still good, a very romantic theme. I liked this sequel because of its nostalgic moments, the city of Paris is beautifully shot, the behind the scenes of Anne's film is very interesting and to see two great talented Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimee, they're great together even if the movie is weak. If it wasn't for the scene where Jean-Louis's wife goes crazy in the desert I might give an 10. 9/10

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

15 August 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later

Filming Locations:

Paris Studios Cinéma, Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Box Office

Gross USA:

$227,510

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films 13, Sofica Cinergie, Sofimage

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1