A Man and a Woman

Rating:
Summary: Self-love
Review: First time I watched this film, it was forced on me by my French teacher who was madly in love with this film. I am sure he meant well, but, despite the simplicity of the storyline, it was a torture for a student who was only two weeks into his first French course.

I returned to the film later (with subtitle, mercifully) and kept coming back for more ever since. The film is a very intimate study of the relationship between man and woman. There are items in the film that dates it firmly in the 60's (like songs and clothes) but the charm of this film is timeless as it deals with that "Fundamental Thing" Sam was singing about in Casablanca.

My French is still bad but it is not the film's fault.

Rating:
Summary: Why this has become my favorite movie ever made
Review: I have never seen a movie that depicts such tenderness not only between lovers but between a parent and child. The music and scenery are simply gorgeous. There is not much plot here - the magic in this movie lies in the characters and the atmosphere created by the music and the scenery of the northern coast of France. The DVD has added features including a documentary on the making of the film and an interview with the director, Claude Lelouche. This movie is so timeless - it's hard to believe it was made almost forty years ago. The movie won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and Best Screenplay. It certainly ranks as one of the most romantic movies ever made.

Rating:
Summary: Like colorizing Citizen Kane
Review: Let's be clear about this. I've loved this movie since I first saw it in the late sixties, and when I saw it recently on DVD I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had lost none of its charm; it's every bit as fresh and original as when I first saw it.

So why only three stars?

Because the transfer to DVD has lost one of the movie's trademarks - the tinted black and white sections.

I remember the blue night scenes, and the orangy-red bedroom shots. All gone! Well, not quite gone - it looks like the transfer process did its bit to adjust the color balance but didn't quite make it, so the night scenes are very slightly bluish, and there is a hint of yellow about the interior shots.

It's all the more annoying since one of the unaltered interior shots is used as the background for the main menu.

Come on Warner. How about sorting this out when you ship out the inevitable 'director's cut'

And when you do, I'll give it five stars (or six, if I can get away with it)

Rating:
Summary: Still Works, After 30 Years
Review: As I sat watching this movie on a Saturday in mid-May, I realized that it had been 33 years, almost to the day, since I sat in a theatre and watched the newly released film. I know nothing about art forms or cinematography, but I do know about love and how much it can hurt / heal. Back then I was pining over the loss of a love named Paul. Two weeks ago I was feeling the loss of a love named Paul. This movie will not appeal to you if you've never loved someone so much it hurt and then had to say good-bye to that person. This movie will mean nothing to you (except for the wonderful music, perhaps) if you've never met that one person around whom all that you were / are / or ever hope to be revolves. Leave the notebook closed on the table. Put the Photography 101 homework away. Watch this movie with your heart. If you can do that, you'll love it. By the way, I thoroughly enjoyed the 20-minute short on the making of the movie which appears as an extra on the DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Timeless.
Review: Claude Lelouch's *A Man and a Woman* is the movie to be condemned for inaugurating what has become one of the worst cliches in movies: the "falling-in-love-while-romantic-music-plays-on-the-score montage". You know it by heart: the couple walking on the beach, laughing at each other over coffee, staring dreamily at each other in bed, ad nauseum, while sappy music tinkles on in the background. Still, that's no reason to despise this groundbreaking and hugely influential 1966 film. As it was the first to use this romantic convention in the movies, *A Man and a Woman* should be cut some slack; and in any case, the thousands of directors who have copied this device have not remotely approached the level of skill, poignancy, and sheer manic intensity to get as many different shots as possible that Lelouch displays here. This film is as clear testimony as any to the enduring influence of the New Wave on cinema. Beyond its historic significance, it's a damn engrossing, romantic picture, featuring a couple we come to like very much. The Man, superbly underplayed by Jean-Louis Trintignant, is a race-car champion and widower with a young son in elementary school. The Woman, a never-lovelier Anouk Aimee, is what they used to call a "script-girl" (i.e., production assistant) in the movie biz: she's a widow with a young daughter of her own who attends the same school that Trintignant's boy attends. Inevitably, the parents become acquainted and fall tentatively in love. As we watch Aimee and Trintignant struggle to balance career, parenting, and a new chance at romance, it becomes clear that we're watching a love story about and for grown-ups. In other words, these are real people, and rarely in the movies does one root harder for a relationship to succeed -- after all, these two are very much like ourselves. (Despite Lelouch's fondness for the Good Life as evinced by his characters' rather glamorous professions.) With its literally thousands of shots and jump-cuts, and its grand romantic passion tempered with the pragmatic problems of daily life, *A Man and a Woman* emerges as a light, impressionistic, and deeply felt love story for the ages. [The DVD by the Dreaded Warner Bros. is -- get this -- shockingly good. This is the best product they've put out -- that I own at any rate -- since their *Citizen Kane* release. Unfortunately, the widescreen is still "matted", but at least it's enhanced for widescreen TV's -- a large improvement for Warner Bros. Most valuable is a short "Making Of" documentary, which shows the hectic Lelouch at work. The bravado he displays while working merely shows that he knew he was making a great film, here. All in all, the movie and this new DVD get my highest recommendation.]

Rating:
Summary: The original FRENCH is back, with the DVD release!
Review: The DVD has just been released (March 18, 2003)

For those of us who love the film, but suffered for many years with the dubbed English, the French language (with subtitles) is back! Anouk and Jean-Louis never sounded more romantic. The color, the mustic, and the sounds are fantastic, just as we remember them from the theater release.

For those who hate subtitles and require English, the solution is just a menu click away.

Indulge yourself- Order the DVD and retire your beloved, ragged VHS.

Rating:
Summary: ON DVD... AT LONG LAST!
Review: Despite their ongoing commitment to second-rate DVD packaging Warner Brothers deserves a pat on the pack for this Widescreen DVD release which features a circa 2003 interview with Claude Lelouch and an original 1966 documentary. The documentary from '66 could have been dropped although I suppose for completeness sake it belongs on the disc. The transfer is very nice and although that horrid English dubbed language track still survives on this disc it is mercifully only an option to be considered as opposed to the only option you've got which was the case on the VHS release. Let's just hope the even-better sequel A Man And A Woman: 20 Years Later is not far behind! The characters had chemistry in the first one but they lacked brains, insight, and confidence, in the sequel, they have finally hit their peak as individuals and as a couple!

Rating:
Summary: Great Romantic movie
Review: I have had the opportunity to see both versions of A Man and a A Woman.I was lucky enough one night too see the original french version and it was great, but i still like dubbed version as well
the familar tune is beautiful everything about the movie is great.I highly recommend this movie.. 10 times better than the sequel.. A man a woman:20 years later.. that was wretch

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Romantic Move
Review: I for one have seen this movie about 10 times and never get bored of seeing it. The music is great the use of color for the present time and the black and white for the past scenes is brilliant.
Although now it would be dismissed as a chic flick or a silly romance movie I think it has done well during it time in revial movie houses and on video.....
I think this movie as fantasic..

Rating:
Summary: Down with dubbing!
Review: I love this picture. It makes me nostalgic
for a time and place I never lived. Lelouch
is so reviled by the critics, you know that
he's doing something right. Problem is,
his films --and there are a LOT of them--
are generally not available, even in France.
Dubbed in English or Spanish on VHS?
It's the only choice you have. In France,
you can't buy the film at all, period. Do NOT
watch the dubbed version; you'll miss half
the beauty of the film.