The Virtue of the Imponderables: Claude Lelouch's unreleased film is on Canal +

Director Claude Lelouch does not change his habits and offers a new experience. Rather than release his new film The Virtue of the Imponderables in the cinema, he prefers to broadcast it on Canal +.

Claude Lelouch, an inspiring filmmaker

Claude Lelouch's life was fraught with pitfalls from an early age. While he was in Algeria to escape the Second World War, he went with his mother to Nice in 1942 to visit a pregnant aunt. Unfortunately, while trying to return to Algeria they are wanted by the Gestapo. His mother then decides to hide him in movie theaters that he will never get tired of. During the show Clique presented by Mouloud Achour on Canal +, Claude Lelouch is invited to discuss the special evening reserved for him on June 13. The director talks about his relationship to cinema and the camera, he says:

"The camera is the main actor of cinema, [it allows] to film the invisible"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdPIRq5llfw Through this interview, Claude Lelouch looks back on several important points of his life that have completely turned his career upside down. He manages to transmit to us this grain of madness that he often talks about. For example, when he was shooting the famous film L'aventure c'est l'aventure with Lino Ventura and Jacques Brel, he explained that the team thought it was impossible for the film to come out one day. It was just a bunch of buddies who wanted to have fun and enjoy. It is surely this lightness that has made its success since this feature film has become a timeless.

Classics that are still modern today

Of course, this film is not the only classic that Claude Lelouch has laid. In 1966, for example, he released Un homme et Une femme with Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant. He received a Palme d'Or at Cannes the same year. The synopsis is simple, a young script loses her stunt husband, she crosses the road of a racing driver in Deauville whose wife committed suicide. A love story is created although it is not always rosy. Claude Lelouch recently filmed, fifty-two years later, the sequel to this masterpiece: The Most Beautiful Years of a Life. This is the reunion of the lovers of A Man and a Woman. The filmmaker had already expressed himself on this subject when it was released in 2019:

"I thought it would be great to bring together Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant. To see them again, as eternal fiancés who have not yet said their last word. Playing extra time, in total freedom, could be the bet of my life as a director."

The film was broadcast in an unprecedented way on Canal + on June 13. For Claude Lelouch, about whom we could talk for hours, the most important thing is to try, even if it means facing failure. He explains that according to him, "Failure is the greatest university in the world". It is necessary to try, to renew himself, to move forward with the times and this is precisely what he is doing, at 82 years old, with his new film The Virtue of the Imponderables.

The Virtue of the Imponderables, filmed on the Iphone

The virtue of imponderables premiered at the Angoulême Festival in 2019. Unveiled on June 13 exclusively on Canal + it will no longer be released in theaters as planned. This dramatic comedy by Claude Lelouch stars Elsa Zylberstein, Stéphane de Groodt and Ary Abittan. Small novelty for this choral film: it is entirely shot on the Iphone. Although Mr. Lelouch is used to making experimental films, this type of shooting is a first for him. He sees in this act a message of hope for the younger generation. Even with a simple phone, it is possible to make a film. A most inspiring statement. This film follows, during a party, a group of people whose lives are about to be turned upside down by an unexpected event. What was supposed to be a project, will eventually end in a complete film. The director spoke about the film, explaining:

"I had all my stuff stolen from me at one point. It was a tragedy because it was 50 years of notes that I had accumulated. I felt like my life had been stolen from me and I thought it was a great subject for a film. I started from this theft of notes, impressions, then the idea of a village festival that paid tribute to Jacques Tati and his Feast Day. […] The film shows that the negative will come to be beaten by the positive, which is always stronger. It's a reflection of the life I've led. I wanted to show the strength of failure and how much trouble was the jogging of happiness."

The film is available in replay on MyCanal, hoping that you will like it as much as we do.