Toute Une Vie (aka And Now My Love) (1974)

The spoiled daughter (Marthe Keller) of a wealthy Jewish manufacturer (Charles Denner) becomes dissatisfied with her life and becomes politicized. A petty thief (Andre Dussollier) after multiple incarcerations discovers a passion for cinema and a new career. They are destined to meet ..... eventually. Co-written, produced and directed by Claude Lelouch. Lelouch's 1966 film A MAN AND A WOMAN became a massive international hit (Lelouch's screenplay won an Oscar) and arguably, one of the great movie romances. What was good about A MAN AND A WOMAN was its simplicity and visual flair. Here, Lelouch takes a similar theme and crams it with political rhetoric and an unfocused story that takes to much time to tell (2 1/2 hours). While Keller and Dussollier are good, they lack the screen magnetism of Anouk Aimee and Jean Louis Trintignant which was an important factor in the 1966 film. It doesn't help that Keller's character seems to be playing politics when her real desire is to get a man. The two stories run parallel to each other but it's a given they will eventually meet at the end of the movie. As with most of Lelouch's movies, it's visually arresting but here it's undone by an unrealistic mish mash screenplay (which inexplicably got an Oscar nomination!). With Gilbert Becaud, Carla Gravina, Gabriele Tinti and Daniel Boulanger.