In Paris, the famous forty year-old journalist Robert Colomb (Yves Montand) is married with Catherine (Annie Girardot) but he is an unfaithful husband. After a love affair with the gorgeous actress Mireille (Irène Tunc), Robert meets the twenty-one year-old American model Candice (Candice Bergen), who has come to Paris for taking photos, in a hotel and feels a great attraction for her. Later, he meets her again by chance in a box fight and they begin a torrid affair. Robert is assigned by the television to interview a group of mercenaries in Congo, and he takes Candice to Nairobi with him and his photographer and friend Michel (Michel Parbot) pretending that they are tourists in a tour. Robert promises Candice to tell his wife about their love affair, but he has no courage to disclose the truth to his wife that proposes him to celebrate his birthday in Amsterdam, where they had traveled in their first trip together. Out of the blue, Candice appears in Amsterdam and in the end Robert tells the truth to Catherine about his double-life and the affair with Candice. Catherine leaves him and Robert moves to Candice's place, but six months later they break their relationship. Candice returns to New York and Robert travels to Vietnam to cover the war, where he is imprisoned by the communists. When he returns to Paris, he misses Catherine, but she has a new life with another man.
"Vivre Pour Vivre" is a classy and charming romance about infidelity and loss of a wolf French journalist. Claude Lelouch supports the magnificent story with a screenplay the uses one of the most beautiful music scores of the cinema history as the substitute for dialogs and the result is impressive. As I refereed in the title of my review, the director uses the sounds of silence- when words are not necessary. The lead trio composed by Yves Montand, Annie Girardot and Candice Bergen (for me, the most gorgeous actress from the late 60's and 70's) show awesome chemistry and performances. The sequence in close when Catherine hears the truth from Robert about his infidelity is stunning. The locations, the worldwide situation in the 60's as background with the use of footages and the cinematography are also wonderful. Only today I have finally seen this movie, since in the 60's I did not have the necessary age to watch in the movie theaters and only now this film has been released on DVD in Brazil by Classicline distributor. The conclusion was totally unexpected for me. My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): "Viver Por Viver" ("To Live for Living")
