Un Homme, Une Femme et Un Chien

I liked the film ‘Un Homme et Une Femme’ so much as a young man that I went to see it 7 times.  The simple love story, directed by Claude Lelouch, was a sensation when it first came out and won 2 Oscars and the Palme d’Or at Cannes, but is forgotten now.  It’s French through and through and all those years ago I thought the two stars, Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant impossibly romantic.

I hadn’t given the film a thought for years and the only reason it came to mind is that the soundtrack is used as a motif for the passing of the years by Julian Barnes in ‘The  Sense of an Ending’. The record, Un Homme et Une Femme, was the sexiest song of the Sixties; its composer, Frances Lai, went on to write Love Story, which was the sickliest song of the Seventies.
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In ‘The Sense of an Ending’ the protagonist kicks over the traces of his past and bitterly regrets doing so.  Reading the book rekindled my memories of the film but I wondered whether it would be wise to watch it again and risk shattering those memories.  I needn’t have worried.  It’s funny and happy and sad and everything I’d remembered.  And, as this video clip shows, it also stars the most joyous dog.