Guest of the show As an aside this Tuesday, January 18, Claude Lelouch made rare confidences about his companion Valérie Perrin, who has shared his life for 15 years.
Claude Lelouch is a happy man in love. For 15 years, the man who has just signed his 50th film as a director has been sharing his life with the journalist and novelist Valérie Perrin, whom he met in a very surprising way. While he was interviewed by a journalist, the filmmaker was given a letter written by a fan of his cinematographic work. “It’s true that my ego was very flattered because it was a statement to my cinema“, he confided to Michel Drucker in Can’t wait for Sunday two years ago : “I saw an incredible style and I thought to myself: ‘But who writes so well?’ I was blown away by the style“.
“One in a billion chance it’s her“
Curious, he then set off in search of this mysterious fan, whose first name he only knew. “There was no phone, no address. So I couldn’t thank Valérie right away. (…) Chance always having talent in my life, I have a friend who was with me that day“, he continued, explaining that his friend had the contact details of a woman named Valérie who was looking for a copy of one of his old films. “He told me : ‘I have a Valerie here, but there’s a one in a billion chance that it’s her!’ I called her and it was her“, he had told. And since that day, Claude Lelouch and Valérie Perrin have never left each other.
“This is the first time that I live with someone who has a colossal talent“
While he speaks very rarely about his private life, Claude Lelouch agreed to talk about his companion on the show As an aside, this Tuesday, January 18. Filled, the 84-year-old filmmaker is full of praise for his beloved. “This is the first time that I live with someone who has a colossal talent. All the women I met had talent, were wonderful actresses, but she is essential. She is in the essential because she talks about the little things in life. What interests him are the things that are within everyone’s reach. In her books, she explains to us that happiness is free and that it is luxury that is expensive. And it means a lot to me“, he declared not without emotion. And to conclude: “As we get closer to the finish line, we need the essential and it is in the essential. This is what she gives me today and I thank her.”
As an aside, to be found in full on the application myCANAL.