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Former boxer Lino Ventura stars in this popular crime piece. But Claude Lelouche, the director of the hugely internationally successful romance Un Homme et Une Femme ensured that this too is a story of a man and a woman in which both Ventura and Francoise Fabian play their parts to perfection. Vive la Difference is the subtext of this film, and one marvels at the raw chemistry generated by the two stars. Lelouche can't help having a dig at smug left-bank intellectuals, but who can blame him for that? Nothing in this film is predictable, right to the very end. Why it seems to be unavailable in video is a mystery to me! See it!

Claude Lelouch is known for having left a copious filmography behind him and in which very few films reach the scale of the masterwork, except maybe "un Homme et Une Femme" (1966) and "la Vie, l'Amour, la Mort" (1969). A good proportion is to be pigeonholed in the category of entertaining, homespun films and "la Bonne Année" has its place among them.

Straddling between two genres: the gangster movie and the sentimental movie, the Lelouch 1973 vintage features Lino Ventura who is released from prison for the new year in 1968 and with a little help from his accomplish plans to commit a break-in to a jeweler's. But in parallel, he falls in love with a lovely female antique dealer.

These two types of cinematographic genres are difficult to handle together but as we are in Lelouch's universe you've got to accept the rules of the game. And the cohesive transition between them works thanks to Lelouch's fluid making and with a lot of humor going for it. I especially love the sequences when he dresses up as an old, rich man who visits the jeweler's and talks about his sister who is at hospital in a serious state. The steps of the operation are shot with clarity and precision. One also appreciates Lino Ventura's mischievous performance and the fact that Lelouch managed to subdue some superfluous features pertaining to him which aren't too overwhelming and are even funny to the pleasure of the projection. So, you can forgive the filmmaker for having incorporated pseudo-philosophical dialogs between Ventura and his female partner about love, wedding and the stability of the couple as well as being amused by a little juggling of the color and black and white concerning the cinematography. The outset and the end are shot in black and white, probably to give an arty feeling to the film even if one can deem this action as gratuitous.

But never mind, if you've got to list the ten most watchable films in Lelouch's work, this one should be part of it.

Simon, a jewel thief, is released from prison on New Year's Eve. As he returns to freedom, we see (through flashback) the eventful few weeks that led up to his arrest. An entertaining film, with interesting dialogue and brilliant direction throughout.

7/10.

Jewels, disguises and a Happy New Year with love feature in director Claude Lelouch's 1973 feature film, which is as much a romantic relationship drama as a heist movie, and features an indulgent opening credits sequence featuring scenes from Lelouch's 'A Man and a Woman'. Prisoner Simon (Lino Ventura) is released during the New Year and during an extended flashback (in colour, with the rest of the film shot in black and white) remembers a robbery on a seafront jewellers in Cannes 6 years ago, and how love in the shape of an antique shop owner called Francoise (Francoise Fabian) reared it's head. Although not as good as his film of the previous year - 'L' aventure c'est l' aventure' - this Lelouch film is still above average, with it's screenplay by Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven featuring Ventura's amusing impersonation of an elderly man, and the Christmas dinner party which goes all pear shaped due to the intrusion of some 'cultural intellectual' waffle.

This film was pretty good and it was nice to see older men in lead roles who are not particularly sexy. Our hero(?) is a sophisticated thief who has intricately planned, along with his friend, the theft of a famous jewel store. It reminded me of the movies Rafifi and Grand Slam, though this caper was performed by 2 instead of it being a larger group effort. Also, it differs in that it diverges into a romance that builds with a woman whose store is next to the jewelers. Although I liked this relationship part of the movie, the speed at which the woman fell for him and the depth of this love seemed rather unreal, but this is a small quibble for an otherwise excellent film.

Claude Lelouch takes the ideas of present and past and turns them ingeniously on their heads. We see the history of the three main characters' involvement with each other in a humorous account involving the past and present. Some of this time-switching reminds me of the film to come, Tarrantino's Pulp Fiction, in its clever time-narrative.

The film works its way around crime, friendship and love in an artistic way, leaving you quite satisfied with the outcome.

I give this film a nine, for two reasons: 1. Sharp movie script, well delivered by the protagonists; and 2. Lino in his grave won't like this, but Francoise Fabian steals this movie from him with a truly compelling performance - as a socially and professionally sophisticated and sumptuously attractive woman who is a foil for all men, save Lino Ventura, who conveys at least as much personal chemistry in this film as a block of cement. I mean, when they are reunited following his six-year stint behind bars - he has nothing to say to her, when she is all choked-up with emotion! Ventura gives the expression "man of few words" a renaissance interpretation.

Ventura, frankly, was much better cast as the detective out to corral the jewel thieves, in "The Sicilian Clan," than he is here, as the reticent-personality jewel thief, and developing "love interest" of Francoise Fabian. She is so beguiling in this film, looking an ageless 30 instead of her 40 years of age at the time, one wonders if Lelouche might have considered her opposite Trintignant in "A Man And A Woman," some six years earlier? She deserved as least as much international recognition as many of her contemporaries of this time who outshined her, beginning with Claudia Cardinale, Elke Sommer, and Elsa Martinelli, none of whom could have carried this film to stellar heights, as did FF.

As I say, just tonight I wondered to myself, if someone asked me what is my favourite film, it would be sooooo difficult, but whenever I think hard about films I've seen or even when I don't, for some reason, I always think of La Bonne Annee.

So I keyed it into IMDb right now.

I have absolutely no idea where I saw it or when, but it probably was in France in the 70s. And I've probably only seen it once, but I've never forgotten it.

I just thought it had everything about it that was good about French cinema or at least any cinema that wasn't Hollywood (and that's not a criticism of Hollywood, just a comment that French is different).

I haven't looked at the comments yet but I look forward to reading them, and in these days of being able to access, I really hope somehow to be able to see it again.

I sort of remember it was an older man involved. I was a young man when I saw it, and I'm an older man now, but I'm even more 'French' than I was then, having spent so much more time there, can speak the language pretty well, know all the best hotels in the south of France etc etc.

a la bonne annee! I'll come back with a comment if/when I get a copy.

Director Jacques Becker is credited with giving former wrestler Lino Ventura his break in films, for which we owe him a debt of thanks and here Ventura's co-star is Becker's widow Francoise Fabian.

Not only is this an expertly crafted 'heist' movie but also depicts an unlikely romance between polar opposites in the shape of a mucho macho, monogamous, uneducated crook and and an elegant, sexually liberated, cultured antique dealer. They are played to perfection by Ventura and Fabian whose chemistry is palpable. There are also humorous exchanges between Ventura and his loyal but rather dim-witted associate played by Charles Gérard.

Despite the customary pot pourri of styles employed by Claude Lelouch this is certainly one of his most accessible and entertaining films. It spans a period of seven years during most of which Ventura's character spends behind bars. There are flashbacks within flashbacks during one of which we are treated to scenes from this director's most popular film from the previous decade which could be seen as a comment on the changing social climate.

Pierre Uytterhoven has again collaborated on the script, Francis Lai once more provides the score whilst Lelouch himself operates the camera.

Lelouch has been unfairly labelled by many as a one-hit wonder which does him a great disservice and undervalues his creativity, imagination, technical skill and the freedom he gives his actors.

An homogenised Hollywood makeover with its obligatory 'feel good' factor came and went.

Great character studies of the jewel thief who falls in love with an antique dealer while chasing a joint in the South of France. Brilliant dialogue, brilliant performances by FF and Lino Ventura. Good comic turn by LV's partner in crime too.

Lino Ventura shows here another of his talents, not necessarily the rough, tough virile man. He plays a gangster preparing a major jewellery store heist. A very brilliant and intelligent job. And besides this scheme, he falls in love with a woman who happens to work not far from his "target". Françoise Fabian is also at her best in this sensitive role; both her and Ventura are in a magic symphony, harmony, for the best pleasure of the audience. I have been surprised to get totally swallowed by this poignant crime flick. There was a remake in the eighties, with Peter Falk in Ventura's character, and directed by John Avildsen. Charles Gerard is also wonderful here, as Lino Ventura's sidekick.