Although I couldn’t understand more than a few words of the rapid and excited French of director David Hertzog Dessites’ speech prior to the 10pm screening of Il Était Une Fois Michel Legrand, the energy in the room transcended language. It was very apparent to me that this was an important night. In the theater with us sat all the people Michel Legrand spent his final years with: musicians, a director he trusted deeply, and his own children.
Last week, I experienced my first screening at Cannes with Faye, a rather mediocre documentary about Faye Dunaway. Dunaway, who was present at the screening, very clearly had a drastic influence on the film, which ultimately painted her in quite the positive light. Where every second of Faye felt tentative and plastic, as though the crew were hyper-aware of her presence, Il Était Une Fois was lively and real. Perhaps this is a result of the documentary’s posthumous release, but Dessites does quote Legrand telling him to “show what you want to show”, so one must assume he would have been content with his portrayal. Not a single interviewee hesitated to state that Legrand was a foreboding presence, a volatile man, difficult to please and prone to rude outbursts. Yet each acknowledged that he was perfectly entitled to such behavior, as he was imbued with a force of incessant and spectacular creation, such passion for music and film alike that rendered him an indomitable presence.
Joyfully, the documentary presented many of Legrand’s most memorable scores at length—of course, those of Demy, and of course, Yentl, but also The Go-Between, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Cléo from 5 to 7, just to name a few. Extensive interviews with prominent figures including Legrand’s colleagues and his colleagues’ children featured throughout, presenting Legrand not as some infallible character, but instead, as he was: yes, a legend, yes, an integral figure in the French New Wave, yes, a revolutionary presence in film scoring, but ultimately, still deeply human.
Whether you enter the film as a fan of Legrand or not, you certainly will be by the end of it all. The documentary has everything one could ask for: information on his background, influences, extensive interviews, and oh so much music, all edited in a brilliantly captivating manner that makes 2 hours feel like less than 1. Legrand’s presence is electric, his music eternal. Five years after his death, in the Buñuel theater at Cannes, for just a few hours, Michel Legrand was alive again.