Editing Jacques Brel (section)

===1968–1972===
[[File:Jacques Brel 1971 2.jpg|thumb|Jacques Brel, 1971]]
Following his retirement from the concert stage, Brel's professional life focused on film. He would record only four more studio albums in the last decade of his life. In September 1968, he recorded the songs for the album, ''[[J'arrive]]'' (I'm coming), which was released later in the year. In addition to the title song, the album included "[[Vesoul (song)|Vesoul]]", "Je suis un soir d'été" (I am a summer's evening), and "Un Enfant" (A child). In October 1968, his musical ''L'Homme de La Mancha'' (''Man of La Mancha'') premièred in [[Brussels]], with Brel playing [[Don Quixote]] and [[Dario Moreno]] playing Sancho Panza. Moreno would die tragically only ten days before the musical's Paris première.<ref name="rfi"/> From 23 to 27 November, Brel and his fellow cast-members recorded the studio album ''[[L'Homme de la Mancha]]''. He adapted the book, translated the lyrics, directed the production, and played the lead role. This was the only time he ever adapted songs by other writers or appeared in a stage musical. The album contains his classic performance of "[[The Impossible Dream (The Quest)|La Quête]]" (The quest). Moreno was replaced by Robert Manuel, and the first performance at the [[Théâtre des Champs-Élysées]] in Paris went ahead as planned on 11 December 1968.<ref name="jacquesbrel5"/> Brel's performance received unanimous praise. After 150 performances of ''L'Homme de La Mancha'', he gave his final performance in the role of Don Quixote on 17 May 1969. He was never replaced.<ref name="rfi"/>

In March 1970 Brel gave a one-off performance at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. Unusually this did not involve singing but instead recitation. In the first half of the performance he recited [[Sergei Prokofiev]]'s famous story, ''[[Peter and the Wolf]]''. In the second half he told the tale of Jean de Brunhoff's ''[[Babar the Elephant]]''.

In 1972 Brel signed a special 30-year contract with [[Barclay Records]]. Although there were no new songs to record, Barclay persuaded him to return to the studio to re-record 11 of the better-known songs he cut for [[Philips Records]] during the early years of his music career. The result was the album ''[[Ne me quitte pas (album)|Ne me quitte pas]]'' (Don't leave me), which contained [[Ne me quitte pas|the title track]], "Marieke", "Les Flamandes" (Flemish women), "Quand on n'a que l'amour" (When you only have love), "Les Biches" (The does), "Le Moribond" (The dying man), "La Valse à mille temps" (The waltz in thousand time), and "Je ne sais pas" (I don't know). His earlier youthful energy was now lovingly harnessed by his longtime colleagues, arranger François Rauber and pianist Gerard Jouannest.<ref name="rfi"/><ref name="ruhlmann-ne-me-quitte"/>