The interactive and creative event with Claude Lelouch is one of 4 experiences dedicated to the Ecole Municipale des Beaux-Arts for Claude Lelouch: L'Amour en mouvement. This event will be livestreamed on Youtube
A conversation without a safety net Claude Lelouch will lead an exceptional masterclass alongside Jean Ollé-Laprune and Yves Allion, co-authors of his book Le Cinéma, c'est mieux que la vie . In the very spirit of his cinema — with no prepared script, no definitive formulas — he shares his method, his relationship with actors, the birth of his films, the fundamental role of music, and the constant pursuit of the “scent of truth.” There is one thing no one else can do. It is Claude Lelouch explaining to you, live, how he creates love on screen. Why he films himself. Why he sometimes gives a different text to each actor. Why he chooses the music before knowing what he is going to film. As part of this nuit blanche, Claude Lelouch will lead an exceptional masterclass accompanied by Jean Ollé-Laprune and Yves Allion, co-authors of his book Le Cinéma, c’est mieux que la vie — for an open, lively conversation, in his very own spirit: without a safety net, without a prepared script, with the audience as a partner. Because only Lelouch can do Lelouch. Only people who take action exist. Claude Lelouch , Nothing is written in advance At the heart of the masterclass, Lelouch develops his deepest conviction: in life as in cinema, nothing is written in advance. You never know the ending. The screenplay is not a road map — at most, it is a starting point. What matters is what happens along the way: the actor who says a line wrong and reveals something truer than the planned text, the light that changes at the last moment, the passerby who enters the frame without being invited. These accidents, these derailments of reality — Lelouch does not fight them. He waits for them. He hopes for them. He sees them as gifts. Chance is God traveling incognito. Claude Lelouch , This sentence sums it all up. For Lelouch, chance is not a threat to the story — it is its most precious opportunity. Chance is life inviting itself onto the set. He calls these moments “miracles.” Not in the religious sense, but in the cinematic and human sense of the term: those seconds when something happens in front of the camera that should never have happened, that will never happen again, and that alone contains more truth than hours of preparation. A trembling look. A hesitant smile. A silence that says everything. These are the miracles Lelouch has spent his whole life watching for — camera on his shoulder, eye always open, ready to capture the unpredictable. I believe in miracles. I have made a few. And most of the time, I did not know I was making one while it was happening. Claude Lelouch , That is why his masterclass will be unlike any other. He will not come with prepared answers or definitive formulas. He will come with his curiosity, his attention, and that inner disposition that has always been his: being ready for something unexpected to happen. Including in this room. Including with you. Everyone arrives with the feelings and mood of the day. Creating together and creating live: the improvised scenes The masterclass unfolds in two parts. First, Lelouch recounts his free-form moments — those times when he abandons the screenplay because life offers him something more beautiful than what he had planned. Then, he invites the audience and surprise guests to join the dance. With volunteers chosen from the room, he improvises short love scenes according to his method: no learned text, no rehearsal, no prepared staging. A framework, an emotion to reach, and the camera rolling. Chance does the rest. The miracle, perhaps, will happen. I treat my actors the way life treats me: with surprises, incomplete information, and the certainty that what matters most will happen in the moment. Claude Lelouch , A living archive These improvised scenes will be filmed. Some, if they contain that scent of truth Lelouch recognizes at first glance, may become part of the exhibition’s living archive. The audience will no longer be mere spectators — for one nuit blanche, they will become actors in a Lelouch-style love story. A story whose ending no one, not even he, knows in advance. The entire masterclass will be livestreamed on the city’s YouTube platform and recorded to be shown in the school throughout the evening. A book signing At the end of the interactive experience, a book signing organized by Librairie Points Communs will take place with Claude Lelouch, Jean Ollé-Laprune and Yves Allion for the book Le Cinéma c’est mieux que la vie .
Source: paris.fr — photo: Ville de Villejuif_Lucile Cubin