Anouk Aimée – A Brief Encounter…

Hotel Lutetia…

Walking hurriedly into the lobby of this most “branché” of hotels in Saint-Germain-des-Prés…

I bumped into a lady…

“Pardon”, she said.

Her face was vaguely familiar…

ahhh…..

“Anouk Aimée…?”, I breathlessly asked her…

“Yes, I am…”, she answered.

“Mon Dieu“…

The iconic… Anouk Aimée…

“Face-à-face”…

“Je suis bouleversée“…

I have been for “millenia“… a huge fan of this extraordinary actress standing next to me in the softly-lit lobby of the Hotel Lutetia…

Ever since I saw “Un homme et une femme“, the Claude Lelouch film, which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and for which she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress, opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant…

I’ve been… totally mesmerised…

Anouk Aimée…

A remarkable actress.

Enigmatic.

A sophisticated lady.

Her dark, striking features established her as an ethereal, mysterious beauty with a tendency for acting characters with… “tragic destinies”.

Rated as one of the sexiest stars of film… like vintage wine, she has retained her legendary beauty in older age…  She once famously remarked…

“You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older“.

“Typiquemente Aimée…

“I listen to “un homme et une femme’s” soundtrack all the time”… I muttered.

“Comme nos voix ba da ba da da da da da da
Nos cœurs y croient ba da ba da da da da da da…
Combien de joies
Bien des drames
Et voilà !
C’est une longue histoire
Un homme
Une femme
Ont forgé la trame du hasard.”

Beautiful…

How I love this song…

And passionately loved the movie “Un homme et une femme“…

“It makes me… ‘fall in love'”.

“Thank you“… she said.

We were just… two people chatting.

It felt like I’ve known her forever...

She was natural…

Understated… lovely…

I liked her… a lot.

Under her large, dark glasses, I could still see her mysterious beauty…

“I’m a writer“…

“I might write an article about you… could I send it to you…?  Where should I send it…?”

“Yes, ofcourse“, Aimée answered.

She wrote her phone number on a small card…

“Where do you live…?”, she asked.

“J’habite à Paris maintenant”…

But I did live in London before”…

“I loved living in London many years ago”, Aimée said.

“J’adore Paris“… I whispered…

“The City of Love”…

We both smiled.

Leaving her reluctantly…

“Au revoir”, I said…

With… awe… admiration.

“Au revoir”…

Anouk Aimée…

Answered…

Enigmatically…

a.