Claude Lelouch Recalls Collaboration With ‘A Man And A Woman’/‘Chabadabada’ Composer Francis Lai – Venice
deadline.comFrench director Claude Lelouch first broke out internationally with 1966 romance A Man and a Woman, starring Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant as a widow and widower whose fledgling love story is held back by past personal tragedies.
Nearly 60 years later, the soundtrack by late composer Francis Lai – and in particular its title track, which is often referred to as ‘Chabadabada’ for its catchy refrain – remains as famous, if not more famous, than the Oscar and Cannes Palme d’Or-winning feature That movie would mark the start of a 52-year, 35-picture collaboration between Lelouch and Lai, which was at the heart of a masterclass by Lelouch at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.
The director is at the festival to receive the Cartier Glory To The Filmmaker Award as well as for the premiere of new work Finalement, starring an ensemble cast led by Kad Merad and also featuring Elsa Zylberstain, Michel Boujenah, Sandrine Bonnaire, Barbara Pravi and Françoise Gillard.
Lelouch first met Lai in 1965 having forged strong connections with the music world through his music videos for the likes of Sylvie Vartan, Françoise Hardy and Dionne Warwick, directing her singing ‘Walk On By’ against the Paris skyline in 1964. “He spent two hours two hours playing me melodies on his accordion and these melodies spoke to me, to my heart, to the essential,” recounted Lelouch. “He was completely self-taught and there was great freedom in his way of playing, in his harmonies and tonalities.” Lai’s compositions became part of Lelouch’s creative process as a director and he would get the musician-composer to write soundtracks for his films on the basis of his ideas as part of development. “I recorded the music for all my films before shooting
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