Les Parisiens (first part of the Le Genre humain trilogy) is a film directed by Claude Lelouch, released 15 September 2004.
A string of characters, often marginal, form part of what one might call the "love Richter Scale" and intersect, forming Prévert inventory. Among them, two singers, Shaa and Massimo fall in love, and share their story.
Director: Claude Lelouch
Writers : Claude Lelouch, Pierre Uytterhoeven
Director of photography: Gérard de Battista
Music : Francis Lai, Pierre Barouh, Boris Bergman
Production : Les Films 13
Distribution : Les Films 13
Length : 118 minutes
Maïwenn : Shaa
Mathilde Seigner : Clémentine / Anne
Xavier Deluc : Pierre
Agnès Soral : Pierre's Wife
Michèle Bernier : The waitress
Evelyne Buyle : The Woman of the train
Ticky Holgado : God
Grégori Derangère : L'arnaqueur
Arielle Dombasle : Une parisienne isolée dans son château
Antoine Duléry : Un restaurateur
Cyrielle Claire : La parisienne chic
Guillaume Cramoisan : L'auteur-compositeur
Constantin Alexandrov : Le parisien complexé
Richard Gotainer : Le patron de la brasserie
Patrick Fierry : Le crooner
Frédéric Bouraly
Catherine Arditi
Géraldine Danon
André Falcon
Charles Gérard
Claude Lelouch financed the production of this film himself, through his company, Les Films 13, to the tune of €10M. He acknowledged that it was a major risk, and may have led to his personal ruin.
On its release date, the film only sold 4,162 tickets, representing a major disappointment. Upset by this, Claude Lelouch offered free tickets to people around Paris on 17 September 2004 up to 19:00. However, by the end of the week, les Parisiens still only had 130,649 viewers.
The film is dedicated to Ticky Holgado, who died in January 2004.
