It’s a love story that has lasted for more than 18 years and even if the age gap, 29 years, is significant, Valérie Perrin and Claude Lelouch love each other like the first day. “We don’t have the same story. He’s a Parisian guy, I grew up in a small provincial town. We complement each other, there’s never any judgment. It’s sweet to never feel judged”explains to Paris Match the one who is currently a hit with her latest novel, Tata (Albin Michel, 2024).
For this interview, it was in Burgundy that Valérie Perrin, who also owns a haven of peace nestled in a popular corner of Paris, received our colleagues. The one who was a still photographer grew up in the region and now lives in this house in “edge of the forest, bought three years ago”as indicated Paris Match. It is in this property that Claude Lelouch’s wife wrote her last novel, alongside the one she loves. “We spend our days exchanging ideas… I tell him everything about my characters and so does he. Just yesterday he told me: ‘I had two incredible ideas for my next film!’ On the other hand, we have a deal: we tell each other everything but we don’t repeat anything to anyone.”specifies the one who grew up far from her husband’s bourgeois origins.
Valérie Perrin and Claude Lelouch, a long-distance love
In this Burgundian house, where she walks with her dog Black, “on the banks of the Arroux which crosses Gueugnon”Valérie Perrin sometimes lives far from the director, who spends a lot of time in Normandy. “We encourage each other enormously, I admire his permanent wonder, he always has a thousand projects. I have a solitary job, and he moves mountains every day, bringing with him an entire army of technicians, cameramen, I would be incapable of doing what he does”says, admiringly, Valérie Perrin.
Everything is going well between the two lovebirds, who are finding success in these very different artistic fields. “We are often asked if our success is compatible, if there is no jealousy. I could not be in competition with my husband, because we do not do the same job. I am not a director; if I were, things would undoubtedly be more complicated, fortunately we don’t box in the same category”concludes Claude Lelouch’s wife.
