Un Homme Et Une Femme (A Man And A Woman)(1966)

Does Anyone Make A Love Story More Stylishly Than The French ?
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The year 1966 was important for various historical reasons, be it political, sporting or cultural. The first American bombs fell on Hanoi, England won the soccer World Cup, the Beatles and the Beach Boys released their groundbreaking albums "Revolver" and "Pet Sounds" respectively. Amidst all this history, a little known French director, Claude Lelouch and his film "A Man And A Woman" won the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize and later the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Lelouch could hardly have picked a more attractive pair of actors for his lead roles. The breathtakingly stunning imagery of the close-ups and the impressionistic look of the director's brilliant camera work make Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimee even more radiant and appealing than the viewer could have even imagined. Financial contraints might have forced Lelouch to shoot part of the film in black and white but he somehow manages to pull if off and the viewers are given a visual treat.

The critics of the film have always complained about its emphasis on style over substance. The oversimplified love story where two single parents who have both lost their respective spouses in violent circumstances, so easily meet and fall in love while visiting their children's boarding school has never been universally accepted. Perhaps, the timing of the film, released during the French New Wave film movement might have brought unfair comparisons to other French directors of the era with more complex stories to showcase.

Lelouch and his film could never compare with the likes of Jean-Luc Godard's "Masculin Feminin"(1966) or even Francois Truffaut's "Jules Et Jim"(1962" in the male-female relationship genre. Even if this film cannot be considered genre breaking in the French New Wave movement, the style of the director alone makes it a worthwhile watch. The story of a race car driver and a film script girl might at times be in love with itself and that clearly shows but maybe that is precisely what the director was trying to do.

The MTV style images might look more at home in a French music video but the film still has a lot going for it. The omnipresent music by Francis Lai has been an international sensation since its release all those years ago. This grown up love story, if that is the best way to describe the film deals with parenthood, career, past loves and losses and the anxious prospect of a new and unknown relationship. Lelouch has to be given credit for trying to juggle all these complex issues in an easy to understand love story. One thing is for certain that he makes no excuses for his style of work and seems to having fun doing it. The biggest appeal of the film might that with the title of "A Man And A Woman", the viewer might think they know what the story is all about but would want to see just how it unfolds anyway.

Sleeper (1973)

Neurotic Woody Allen And His Take On Science Fiction.
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The thought of Woody Allen in a science fiction film might sound like an oxymoron for fans of the genre nowadays but that is exactly what happened in 1973 with "Sleeper". The fact that he wrote, directed, acted and composed music for this sci-fi comedy is a pretty impressive feat. The film was made by Allen when he was making lightweight slapstick comedies like "Bananas"(1971), "Play It Again, Sam"(1972) and "Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex* But Were Afraid To Ask"(1972).

The H.G. Wells novel, "When The Sleeper Wakes" serves loosely as its main inspiration. However, Allen brilliantly parodies and satirizes classic sci-fi offerings like Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"(1968) and "A Clockwork Orange"(1971), "THX 1138"(1971) by George Lucas while also taking aim at George Orwell's futuristic novel "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World".

Even as he skewers the dystopian society in this film, the viewer can clearly see that Allen has been heavily influenced by slapstick comedy geniuses like Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. He also pays homage to comic masterpieces like Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times"(1936) and the Marx Brother's "Duck Soup"(1933).

The plot basically revolves around Miles Monroe (Allen), a Jazz clarinet musician and owner of a Greenwich Village health food store who finds himself two hundred years into the future in the year 2173 when he gets cryogenically frozen after a botched peptic ulcer operation. Awakened by the rebels to be their savior, Monroe is hunted and finally brainwashed by the totalitarian government as they view him to be a threat to their so-called harmonius existence.

In this hijinks, Allen is ably supported by Diane Keaton as Luna Schlosser, a rich, clueless and talentless pseudo-intellectual poetess. Keaton in one of her earliest collaborations with Allen shows off her comic flair and timing which would soon make her a household name with the likes of "Annie Hall"(1977) and "Manhattan"(1979), both directed by and starring Allen himself.

The film has quite a few enduring images along with its upbeat silent movie type music. The domination of technology over every aspect of human life including having orgasms in an "Orgasmatron" or using "The Orb", a large ball to get high along with the sequence where Allen pretends to be a robotic servant are absolutely hilarious. He also probably has the funniest line in the film when towards the end, Monroe tells Schlosser that he only believes in sex and death as they are the only two things that come once in a lifetime.

Allen was also thought to have discussed his ideas with the sci-fi master Isaac Asimov and employed noted sci-fi writer Ben Bova in the film. This probably shows in the wit and intelligence of the film despite its zany and surrealistic look. The film was highly regarded by the sci-fi community as it received the prestigious Hugo and Nebula Awards, given only to the finest works in the genre.