Claude Lelouch's interest in cinema was manifested, so to speak, "out of an urgent need": his mother, leaving for work, hid him in cinemas, because during the war it was dangerous for Jews to catch the eye of the Nazis - they could be taken to a concentration camp.
Claude was born in 1937 in Paris, in a family of Algerian Jews. Therefore, he knows firsthand what war and fear are. As a boy, he decided that he would tell everyone in the world about this evil with the help of a movie.
His parents made fun of his dream of becoming a director, but they gave him a movie camera. And already at the age of 13 he proved that his dream was not in vain: he presented his short film about the war "The Evil of the Century" at the Cannes Film Festival, and it was warmly received by the audience.
Director's career
Lelouch again takes up reporting: he makes a picture about the USSR "When the curtain rises." And then he removes the drama Human Essence (1961).
It is hard to imagine that the famous director shoots a whole series of subsequent films unsuccessfully - they are not recognized by either critics or viewers.
But in 1966 his melodrama "Man and Woman" was released, and she gave Lelouch the great love of the audience and the first "Oscar". The story of a man and a woman who met after the loss of their loved ones touched millions of people around the world and made Lelouch famous. In addition, the picture brought in a lot of money.
Meanwhile, funds for shooting were sorely lacking, and the director was forced to alternate between black and white and color shots. No one guessed that this was a ploy of poverty - on the contrary, other directors began to use this technique as an innovative one.
This inspired Lelouch, and he began to work on other touching tapes about love and relationships between the strong and weak halves of humanity. In the 70s of the last century, more than twenty paintings by the master were released, and each of them was a love story.
In 1976, the drama "All Life" was released, which can be considered autobiographical - the director copied it from himself, and that makes it interesting.
The 80s and 90s are also very fruitful for Lelouch. The comedy drama "Minion of Fate" with Jean-Paul Belmondo in the title role was particularly successful. The actor played the role of a successful entrepreneur bored with life. He goes to Africa on an incredible adventure.
The new century brought Lelouch new success - he continues to shoot a lot and successfully. The audience especially liked his film "The Railway Romance", filmed in the genre of a psychological thriller.
The last picture of the master is called "Each has his own life and his own sentence" (2017).
Personal life
The famous director made many films about love, about relationships, but he himself got divorced four times. His wives were Christine Cochet, Marie-Sophie L., Evelyn Bouix, Alexandra Martinez.
Claude Lelouch has seven children, and he is very friendly with all of them, communicates with all ex-wives.
As the director himself says, all his wives and lovers have always been his ideal, because he idolized women. They inspired him to be creative, gave him children. And they parted when the relationship came to a logical conclusion.
