And Now My Love

This energetic, episodic view of three generations of Parisians is best described by one of it own characters, filmmaker Dussollier, as he discusses his new film about the 20th century: "That film will begin in 1900 with the invention of movies and end when they invent happiness in the

year 2000. It's going to be a mixture of subjects, a blend of styles. It will last almost three hours--for one single second of love. It will be the anatomy of love at first sight." This is AND NOW MY LOVE. The film begins as a silent film (complete with title cards), works its way to the present,

and probes into the future. Along this historical route, we meet a collection of characters--a camera operator (Denner) with his new model Lumiere who is subsequently killed in the trenches of WW I; the cameraman's son (Denner again), a camp survivor who becomes a wealthy shoe manufacturer;

Keller, his wife, who dies in childbirth; Goldman's daughter (Keller again), a spoiled rich brat who first loves popular singer Becaud and then Dussollier, an ex-con-turned-filmmaker who used to steal Becaud albums from record stores. Although the film starts off on a confusing foot (there are too

many characters to follow), it fast becomes a virtual cornucopia of characters, stories, parallel romances, and filmmaking techniques. AND NOW MY LOVE is a semiautobiographical film for Claude Lelouch, who produced, directed, cowrote (the screenplay earned an Oscar nomination), and cophotographed.

The two-hour running time is only for the US release (and, unfortunately, the videotape); the 150-minute French version carries the story into the future, with Keller and Dussollier trying to raise a family in a heavily polluted New York City. (Dubbed into English.)