Claude Lelouch: “I still have one film left to make”

“Dabadabada, badabadaba.” We all have in mind the song from “A Man and a Woman” (1966) by Claude Lelouch composed by Francis Lai. Music is omnipresent in the French director of 51 films, and there’s nothing like a film concert to enjoy it. It will be Sunday June 2 at the Théâtre du Léman, in Geneva, with the Douai Philharmonic Orchestra playing on a montage of images, and the presence of Monsieur Lelouch. Spectators will even be able to chat with it if they wish. “I like going to meet them. The public is the real producer of my films,” tells us the 86-year-old filmmaker who came in person to talk about this show at the RTS tower on Tuesday afternoon.

How important is music in a film to you?

It is crucial. Because it’s humanity’s first medicine, the first thing I take when I’m not well. Music has all the virtues. First, she always says pleasant things — this is the opposite of words which can be very unpleasant and aggressive. It speaks to our part of eternity, while our intelligence tells us that we are mortal. And it is the language of God, a universal language. A child listens to music before speaking, it calms them down. I had seven children. I can’t tell you how many times I played music for them when they were bawling or whatever. I’ve made 51 films, they’re all musical films.

The music for your films is even written first.

Yes, because he is a great director of actors. If they listen to the music from the film, they know what film they are in. Most people do the music for their films afterwards, to fill in the gaps. Not me. This show is also a wonderful way to pay tribute to Francis Lai, Michel Legrand, Claude Bolling, to all the composers who have left and all the actors who are no longer there, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Lino Ventura, Annie Girardot. This concert film brings them to life. In just one time. Besides, cinema almost invented immortality.

How does your audience react during this film concert?

The first, in Paris, was a triumph, so many people dreamed and took off. They all have memories of my films. So they had flashbacks. It’s not my show that they came to see, but their life. When I made “A Man and a Woman,” I received thousands of letters telling me: “Thanks to you, I reconciled with my husband” or “I found the woman of my life” . Joe Biden found his wife by going to see this film. And when I did “Live to Live,” people wrote to me to say: “Thanks to you, I had the courage to divorce.” When I did “Les uns et les autres”, people said to me: “But you told my life story?” I was a witness to my time, I didn’t adapt a book, I wrote all my stories, and all the men and women I put in my films are people I encountered .

How did you feel the first time you saw the two-hour montage of these 50 films?

I reviewed my life, my work. I revisited my dreams. It’s a great reminder. We have no memory, but cinema remembers everything. And by seeing all these images again, I rediscovered my films. There were even sequences that I had forgotten.

You have had quite a few singers play in your films. Is it because they have a musical ear?

You can’t be a singer if you’re not a good actor. You have to perform a song. They manage to make you believe in a three-minute story. For me, it takes me 1 hour 30 minutes. I played Gilbert Bécaud, Eddy Mitchell, Johnny Hallyday, etc. I tried to film people I liked a little more than others, I never took pleasure in filming people I didn’t like.

There are songs with lyrics in your films. Will there be guests in Geneva to perform them?

At every show, there are some. Generally, if they are free, they come. So, there will be surprises, of course…

You have completed your next film, “Finally.” What can you tell us about it?

“Finally” will be released in theaters on November 13 and it is a very musical film. Even more than the others. Ibrahim Maalouf did the music and Didier Barbelivien did the songs. I called on Barbara Pravi, a magical singer, a star is born! And to Kad Merad, who has proven to be an immense singer. He has the voice of Yves Montand, it’s impressive. He always hummed. There, I blackmailed him. And it is overwhelming. I don’t want to tell too much of the story, but it’s a beautiful journey that allows a tired man to find the joy of living again. It’s a film that makes you want to live. And I called it “Finally” because it’s probably one of my last films. At the age I am, I still have one film left to make. Which will be called “Eventually, it will never end”.

Is this another film in the works?

Yes, but it will be the last. Because I think I’m going to need three or four years of filming, all over the world. This will be the sequel to “Finally”. You know, in the end, I only made one film but in 51 episodes.