Les plus belles années d’une vie (2019)

Directed by: Claude Lelouch | 90 minutes | drama | Actors: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Anouk Aimée, Souad Amidou, Antoine Sire, Marianne Denicourt, Monica Bellucci, Tess Lauvergne, Laurent Prudhomme, Jean-Yves Cressenville, Bernard Warnas, Benjamin Patou, Laurent Dassault, Vincent Vinel, Rémi Bergman, François

In a retirement home, an activity counselor enthusiastically presents a quiz for the residents. “You know this, you were all there after all!” The quiz is about the past fifty years. Somewhere at the back of the group, in a wheelchair is Jean-Louis Duroc. Hair somewhat haggard, age spots and wrinkles on his face, his gaze skittishly glides over the people in front of him, but it is not clear to you whether he is aware of what is happening at the moment. Next to him is his son, who is bowing to him in concern.

A poppy French village street, with an even cuter shop. Anne chats with her granddaughter Tess, just before her daughter Françoise rushes in. And then another visitor comes. It is Antoine, son of Jean-Louis, who, according to himself, has been looking for Anne for a while. She doesn’t recognize him, how could it be otherwise – it’s been over fifty years since she saw him, when he was still a child. Her attention is immediately drawn when he announces the reason for his arrival. Jean-Louis is not doing well. His memory is rapidly deteriorating. Does she not want to visit him? It is not only his idea, also on medical grounds it is expected that a reunion with his old lover will have a positive effect.

‘Les plus belles années d’une vie’ is the second sequel about Anne Gauthier, script girl, and Jean-Louis Duroc, racing driver, who met in ‘Un homme et une femme’ (1966) (Oscar best foreign film). The two actors already returned for a reunion in 1986, but this film pretends that reunion never happened. The relationship apparently broke down in the 1960s because Anne “wanted her to be the last woman for me,” said Jean-Louis. And “he was not only a racing driver, but also a woman hunter” (that sounds nicer in French), that’s how Anne explains their split.

Of course Anne complies with Antoine’s request and she visits her former flame, who is dreaming away the days in the garden of the nursing home. She doesn’t introduce herself, but easily strikes up a conversation. Sometimes confused, sometimes clear, Jean-Louis knows that this unknown woman is very similar to the one he once loved and has never forgotten.

These conversations form the beating heart of the film, which also consists of much (too much) recycled material from ‘Un homme et une femme’, a large part of ‘C’était un rendez-vous’ (1976) – a short film in which Lelouch races irresponsibly through Paris – and some dream scenes by Jean-Louis – that are at odds with the dreamy, melodramatic nature of the rest of the film. The tone of the film is funny and melancholic at the same time. “Still don’t you want to sleep with me?” the incorrigible flirt Jean-Louis repeatedly asks his nurse, who has a soft spot for him. The still beautiful Anouk Aimée seems many years younger than her in reality only two years older opponent, but when he suddenly smiles, the whole screen lights up.

‘Les plus belles années d’une vie’ is a hopeful, sweet film, about aging and the flaws that go with it, about looking back at life and realizing that regretting a decision is useless. The fact that the four main actors are all still alive and willing to participate in this project more than five decades after the successful ‘Un homme et une femme’ is of course unique. It makes up for the somewhat thin story.