"It is the triumph of the autodidacts, the outsiders; a street singer, a robber with a car, a bar waitress... and a charismatic street peddler... My heart is always balanced between comedy and tragedy. It is this mixture which is at the heart of this fable, whose heroes all belong to true stories." -Claude Lelouch Lelouch′ s anecdotal ensemble comedy-drama is a re-edit of his The Parisians and Men and Women. Following a critical drubbing that stung Lelouch, he went back to the editing room and emerged with this more streamlined version of a film about contemporary relationships. He tested the film on audiences in the United States and Italy, and following enthusiastic receptions made plans to release it in his native France. Lelouch states that only after completing the second film did he realize the need for one vehicle to take the romantic joumey, and that some of the questions he posed required an immediate response. Now mixing irony with melancholy, Lelouch finds "nothing more photogenic than ordinary people when they arrive at something extraordinary."