Go to composer Michel Legrand's site and you'll be greeted by Barbra Streisand's newish rendition of one of his greatest hits, "The Windmills of Your Mind," originally composed for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) — it won Legrand his first Oscar. This version opens Streisand's last album, What Matters Most, which, if you throw in the Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc, features eight more Legrand tunes. She's a fan. While Legrand won his second Oscar for his score for Summer of '42 (1971), it was Yentl (1983) that scored him his third win, plus two more nominations, one each for two songs Streisand sings in the film.
Les Films du Losange notes that Legrand turns 80 today, a fine occasion to remind ourselves that, before the "Windmills" years, Legrand worked with Godard (A Woman Is a Woman, Vivre sa vie, Band of Outsiders) and appeared in Agnès Varda's Cléo From 5 to 7 (1961) before he broke through internationally with his songs for Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1966). That's the Legrand we're celebrating today with the (admittedly rather choppy) clip above.
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