''Paul and Michelle'' is a 1974 drama film directed and produced by

Lewis Gilbert Lewis Gilbert (6 March 1920 – 23 February 2018) was an English film director, producer and screenwriter who directed more than 40 films during six decades; among them such varied titles as '' Reach for the Sky'' (1956), '' Sink the Bismarck! ...

, whose story Vernon Harris and Angela Huth dramatized. It is a sequel to the 1971 film ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

,'' by the same director and with the same lead actors. Gilbert says the film was not as successful as the first - "it didn't have the same freshness" - although "it wasn't unsuccessful".

Plot

Taking place approximately three years after the events in ''Friends,'' ''Paul and Michelle'' resumes the story of Paul Harrison ( Sean Bury) and Michelle Latour ( Anicée Alvina) after they are reunited. Paul, having successfully completed prep school in England as the

head boy The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

, returns to France to study at the Sorbonne and to locate his lover Michelle and their three-year-old daughter Sylvie. He is directed to Nice where Michelle had taken a job, only to find that she left the job due to an unpleasant situation with her boss, and is now living in a comfortable apartment with Garry ( Keir Dullea), an older American airline pilot. Michelle had written to Paul many times, but his stepmother failed to give him the letters. Paul and Michelle discover that they are still in love, and return with Sylvie to Michelle's cottage in the

Camargue The Camargue (, also , , ; ) is a coastal region in southern France located south of the city of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône river delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western is the ''P ...

for an idyllic summer. Garry is unhappy about losing Michelle and tries to get her to change her mind and stay with him, but accepts her choice to be with Paul. When the Sorbonne term begins, Paul obtains a small, inexpensive apartment near the school and brings Michelle and Sylvie to live with him, and the two befriend some of Paul's classmates. Then Paul's father finds out Paul is living with Michelle and Sylvie, and cuts off Paul's allowance, causing both Paul and Michelle to have to go to work. Michelle also discovers she is pregnant by Garry, and feeling unable to afford or manage another child, she obtains an illegal abortion with the help of medical student friends, without telling Paul until she returns home visibly ill. Garry visits Michelle to tell her he will be moving to New York City and invites her to join him, but she chooses to stay with Paul. Tired from the demands of work, child care and Paul's studies, the couple begin to bicker, culminating in a major argument when Michelle returns from work and finds Paul taking a break at a cafe with an attractive female friend. During the argument, Sylvie wanders away from the apartment and Paul and Michelle frantically search for her before finding her unharmed later that night. Michelle decides that their living arrangement is not working, and that she and Sylvie should return to the cottage until Paul finishes school and gets a good job and a nicer apartment. She will get a job in Arles to support Sylvie, and Paul can visit for holidays. Paul accepts her decision, reasoning that they survived a three-year separation before and can do so again. In the final scene, Paul puts Michelle and Sylvie on the train to Arles and sadly waves goodbye as it pulls away. The film had a third part, but it is lost, and few people know about it.

Cast

* Sean Bury as Paul Harrison * Anicée Alvina as Michelle Latour * Keir Dullea as Garry * Ronald Lewis as Sir Robert Harrison *

Catherine Allégret Catherine Allégret (born 16 April 1946) is a French actress. She is the daughter of Simone Signoret and Yves Allégret.Becker, Frawley (2004) ''And the Stars Spoke Back: A Dialogue Coach Remembers Hollywood Players of the Sixties in Paris'', Sc ...

as Joanna * Georges Beller as Daniel * Anne Lonnberg as Susannah * Sara Stout as Sylvie * Steve Gilbert as Nic * Anthony Clarke as "Hush" * Peggy Frankston as Lilli *

Peter Graves Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor who portrayed Jim Phelps in the television series ''Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series), Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 to 1973 and in its reviv ...

as Sir Henry *

Toby Robins Toby Robins (March 13, 1931 – March 21, 1986) was a Canadians, Canadian actress of film, stage and television. Robins starred in hundreds of radio and stage productions in Canada from the late 1940s through the 1960s, working with such perform ...

as Jane * André Maranne as Bellancourt * Sylvie Joly as The Receptionist

Production

Gilbert later put the three year gap between the movies down to "laziness" on his part.

Reception

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "Paul and Michelle are not real human beings; their responses are contrived. Both treat the world as a large doll house, while the script treats them as caricatures of what teen-agers might think young adults were like 20 years ago." '' Variety'' wrote that "instead of combining elements into some semblance of acceptable soap, Gilbert merely piles one ingredient on top of the other without sorting each out for proper emotional emphasis. By trafficking in stereotypes, producer-director makes neither the lovers nor their various predicaments absorbing, believable or even interesting." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote that Lewis Gilbert "should have left well alone" after ''Friends'', because the sequel "is hopelessly contrived and tedious." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' called it "an eminently uncalled-for sequel" that ends "with another separation and the threat of another sequel three years hence, when Paul will have finished college and be ready to assume the full burdens of a family man. If the moviegoing public has any regard for its own welfare, it will take this threat seriously and help prevent Lewis Gilbert from making a fool of himself three times in a row."Arnold, Gary (11 May 1974). "Paul and Michelle". ''

''. C5.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul And Michelle 1974 romantic drama films 1974 films French romantic drama films French sequel films British romantic drama films British sequel films English-language French films Films directed by Lewis Gilbert Films scored by Michel Colombier Paramount Pictures films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films 1970s French films English-language romantic drama films