Happy New Year (French: La bonne année) is a 1973 romance and comedy drama film directed by Claude Lelouch.[3] It tells the story of a gangster who organises a successful heist but is himself caught and jailed. Released early, he not only recoups his share of the takings but also regains his girlfriend. The film is edited to present a nonlinear narrative, with the beginning and ending of the film showing the present-day in black-and-white, and the center of the film showing a flashback of the events in color.
| Happy New Year | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Claude Lelouch |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by | Claude Lelouch[1] |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Claude Lelouch[1] |
| Edited by | Georges Klotz[1] |
| Music by | Francis Lai[1] |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | Les Films 13 (Paris)[2] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 115 minutes[1] |
| Countries |
|
| Language | French |
| Budget | 9.5 million francs |
The film is a French and Italian co-production between the Paris-based Les Films 13 and Rizzoli Film. It performed well in the French box office and earned both Ventura and Fabian the David di Donatello for Best Acting.
Plot
editThe robber Simon and his faithful accomplice Charlot take a holiday in Cannes. Their plan is to rob the Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery shop on the seafront. Exhaustively, they watch and log the movements of the staff and the security routines. Disguised as a rich old man, Simon gets to know the manager by choosing items for an alleged sick sister. He also gets distracted by Françoise, the beautiful owner of the antiques shop next door. She is on her own and willing to enjoy dates.
On the night of the heist, Charlot manages to hide in the shop at closing time and at gunpoint gets the manager to fill an attaché case with all the jewels and cash. He then lets Simon in and heads off with the loot in a speedboat. As Simon ties and gags the manager, the place is surrounded by police because an alarm had been triggered. Françoise visits Simon in jail and promises she will wait for him.
After six years, as the police have not found Charlot or any of the loot, they think of a plan. They will get released early and shadow him. He eludes his pursuers and finds Charlot, who gives him his share and drives him to the airport for a plane to Brazil. Waiting for his flight to be called, he rings Françoise. She tells him to come to her apartment immediately, which he does.
Cast
editCast adapted from French Thrillers of the 1970s: Volume 1, Crime Films (2026).[1]
- Lino Ventura as Simon
- Françoise Fabian as Françoise
- Charles Gérard as Charlot
- André Falcon as jewler
- Lilo as Madame Félix
- Claude Mann as the intellectual
- Frédéric de Pasquale as Françoise's Paraisian lover
- Gérard Sire as the prison warden
- Silvano Tranquilli as Françoise's Italian lover
- Élie Chouraqui as the inmate who escapes
- Rémy Julienne as the taxi driver
- Mireille Mathieu as herself
Production
editThe film was a co-production between France and Italy between two film production companies: the Paris based Les Films 13 and the Rome based Rizzoli Film.[1] Rizzoli Film provided 20 percent of the film's 9.5 million franc budget.[4] Much of the film was financed by advertising, particularly for Van Cleef & Arpels.[citation needed]
The film was shot in January 1973.[4]
Release and reception
edit
Happy New Year was released in France on April 13, 1973.[1] It sold over 1.373 million tickets and was the top of the French box office for three weeks.[4] It was later released in Italy on September 14, 1973 and received release in English territories such as New York on December 12, 1973 by AVCO Embassy and London, England on July 18, 1974.[1][4] Lino Ventura and Françoise Fabian won prizes for best actor and actress at the San Sebastián International Film Festival as well as the David di Donatello in Italy.[4] In their book French Thrillers of the 1970s: Volume 1, Crime Films (2026), authors Roberto Curti and Frank Lafond said the film was released "to good critical success".[4]
The film was remade as Happy New Year (1987), directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Peter Falk, Charles Durning and Tom Courtenay.[5] Lelouch commented on the remake, saying that it could have been good but people at Columbia Pictures suppressed the flashbacks and that audiences would grow bored if the story was told chronologically.[4] The latter film was nominated for an Academy Award for best make-up, but performed poorly in the box office.[4]
References
editCitations
editSources
edit- Fountain, Clark. "La Bonne Année". AllMovie. Archived from the original on November 13, 2010.
- Canby, Vincent (August 7, 1987). "Film: 'Happy New Year'". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
- Curti, Roberto; Lafond, Frank (2026). French Thrillers of the 1970s: Volume I, Crime Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1-4766-8681-3. LCCN 2025048366.
