A Man and a Woman is a 1966 French film directed by Claude Lelouch. The movie tells the story of a chance meeting between a race car driver named Jean-Louis Duroc (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and a script supervisor named Anne Gauthier (Anouk Aimée) who drop their children off at a camp in Helsinki. Both Jean-Louis and Anne are dealing with their own emotional scars and the deaths of their respective spouses.
After their initial meeting, the two continue to run into each other in various locations throughout Helsinki. Slowly but surely, they begin to develop feelings for each other, but ultimately are hesitant to dive headfirst into a new relationship due to their past.
In one particularly poignant scene, Jean-Louis and Anne ride a cable car up a mountain and exchange childhood memories, revealing a deeper level of intimacy between the two. Despite their reluctance to fully commit, they eventually give in to their feelings and enter into a passionate love affair.
Filmed in black and white, A Man and a Woman is known for its iconic soundtrack by Francis Lai, which includes the song "A Man and a Woman" that became hugely popular. The film was a commercial and critical success, winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and two Academy Awards. It is considered a classic of French cinema and a timeless romantic drama.