Si c'était à refaire (1976)
Directed by Claude Lelouch

Film Review

The 1970s was a busy decade for Claude Lelouch. Buoyed up by the success of Un homme et une femme (1966), which won him the Palme d'Or at Cannes, this most flamboyant of French filmmakers of the New Wave era churned out films with a manic artistry that confused the critics whilst seducing audiences, most probably because of the big names at the top of the cast list. Si c'était à refaire is one of the more restrained films that Lelouch made in the 1970s, a downbeat drama in which a convicted criminal attempts to rebuild her life after a long period of incarceration. In the hands of a more serious filmmaker twenty years on, this would have doubtless ended up as a gritty auteur piece, but Lelouch makes it something more akin to a fairytale, with a happy ending almost guaranteed from the outset.

Catherine Deneuve is well-suited to play the lead in a quirky fairytale, having already fulfilled this role already in three of Jacques Demy's films (notably Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)), and after getting Marcello Mastroianni pregnant in another Demy film (L'Événement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la lune), starring in a Claude Lelouch film was the obvious next step in her career. Deneuve turns out to be the best thing the film has going for it, her solid performance grounding the story in a tangible reality which the director seems determined to undercut with his usual cinematographic histrionics. The film's violent mood swings are as likely to induce nausea as the galloping camera motion and Lelouch doesn't confine his artistry to the visuals: the soundtrack is just as zany, with sound effects that would not be out of place in one of Roman Polanski's weirder films.

Si c'était à refaire is pretty tame compared with Lelouch's more over-the-top offerings, such as his previous magnum opus Toute une vie (1974), but it is still an indulgence fest that can become wearisome if you prefer a film to have more content than style. Deneuve's presence, helped by contributions from Francis Huster and Charles Denner, prevents the film from disappearing up its artistic orifice and overall it is one of the more satisfying Lelouch offerings of this decade.

Film Synopsis

Aged 35, Catherine Berger leaves prison after having completed a 15 year prison sentence for complicity in the murder of her employer.  She gave birth to a son whilst in custody and, once released from prison,  intends to rebuild her life with him...