brilliant actors, brilliant editing

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Actually, along with several others, I went to watch the original Un Homme et une femme from 1966 - which explained why the cinema was three quarters full on one of the hottest days of the year. It was a one-off screening past of the 'Sunday French Classics' series but somehow what we got was A Man And A Woman 20 Years After, possibly the renters shipped the wrong title. It was certainly not something I would have turned out for even on a much cooler day but as long as I was there I figured I'd enjoy looking at Anouk Aimee and anything else would be a bonus. Lelouch is far from the most stable of filmmakers at anytime, as a director he reminds one of Michael Caine as an actor - both are so prolific that every eight or nine films they turn up with something worth seeing. Alas, this was somewhere between one and seven which means that the best things in it were the clips from the original.

Sequels to films that made an impact when they first came out are usually a let down. If we enjoyed the original, our perception on the update will probably not be as kind as when we discovered a particular movie for the first time, although there can be exceptions.That seems to be the case with this film which we never saw when it was released. Claude Lelouch surprised the world with a story that was fresh, had two of the brightest stars of that era, and had a wonderful music score by Francis Lay. Unfortunately, for this second view at the same characters twenty years later, there are no surprises, other than the reunion of Anne and Jean-Louis as they looked twenty years later.Anne and Jean-Louis who loved each other passionately, now are seen as middle aged individuals that are reunited after their break up, which by the way, it's never made clear why it happened, or how their passion fizzled after what one thought would be a match made in heaven. Anne, a film producer, is going through a bad period in her career. She feels the love story she experienced with Jean-Louis merits to be brought to the screen. For that purpose, she contacts him. Jean-Louis, now involved in a relationship with a younger woman, is skeptical of what Ann wants to do.Mr. Lelouch introduces another element. Anne, being a producer, is supervising a war epic, as the film starts. The reviews are terrible. Then, she embarks in the making of another drama. The director shows the way movies are done as most of the characters lives revolve around the different sets of films in production. It is a distracting theme that adds nothing to what one thought would be the only reason for the remake of "Une homme et une femme" in the first place.One thing did not change. Anouk Aimee shows in her mature ravishing beauty, as she lights up the screen whenever she appears. Jean-Louis Trintingnant does not fare as well. He is more of an enigma; we never warm up to him. The film disappoints because one feels manipulated by the director who brings us along with the promise of watching a relationship that went sour, fix whatever problems that got them apart, in doing so, Mr. Lelouch wastes about forty minutes of celluloid before showing the lovers together at long last!

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

I have a copy of this film and I do watch it from time to time. While I don't think it's so horrible, I could definitely do without the whole crazy patient/doctor/murder storyline. The rest of the movie, I like.It's interesting to see Jean-Louis and Anne interacting with their now grown up children and to see what paths their lives took after their very brief fling. I think the chemistry is still there between them, and I think they actually look like real middle aged people, not the "perfect plastic botox people" that we so often see in today's films...I gave this film a 8 out of 10 because(despite it's flaws)it was nice to catch up with the lives of Jean-Louis and Anne.