User reviews

Aiming to be a complex story of the life complexity ended up in a series of clichees , sometimes forced, sometimes too easy- but then again: what is lije after all, when eavery and each of us are unique in a way? Seeing the movie 10 years after first release the effect of not being a modern one is augmented. However the story seen now in this not modern circumstances add to its credibility- like a docu drama. Not a visual masterpiece that I would like to see again but it let me with the sense of "this story was really and trully happened" . In terms of where life could lead one that follows heart and instincts, one that love life and self rather than others and social conventions.

This film can leave one simultaneously with a feeling of exhilaration and exhausted to the point of tears! Seldom have I gone to a movie with expectations as high as this one to satisfied without even being asked,and I watch up to ten a week! The five stories,based on true events in the life of Mr. LeLouch,are interwoven into a story of epic proportion with scenes shot in the very spots where they happened. What could have been old stories of the 'war years' retold were given to us instead with a gut-wrenching, joyously vibrant story of love and betrayal usually reserved for those epics of the bygone era of Hollywood. This combined with acting pulled from the souls of basic unknowns ,some of whom begged for the parts,poured off of the screen to wash over the audience with so much more then we have come to expect these days...a true film going experience. See this with an audience on the big screen if you can, if not gather some of your closest friends around you and plenty of wine and tissues. I will only say that I've waited a long time to feel this way about a movie, thanks Mr. L.

MERCI

Thank you Monsieur Lelouch!

France and the U.S.A. are my "homelands", but when I watch Monsieur Lelouche's films, I am proud of being....simply human.

In my humble opinion, his films have a rare profoundness that makes them transcend beyond all standards of culture, figures of style....they dig deeply into the core of the human soul.

I am no film critic; my appreciations do not concern the technical aspect of his films, I will leave this ungrateful task to others, those who earn a living in a way I am glad I don't.

I will just say that a film by Lelouch encompasses much more than film making techniques and effects. A film by Lelouch is Poetry, Music, History accounts and travels of many kinds: travels in time, places and, most of all, within our soul.

This film is a beautifully scorching experience. It hurts to be human.

One key word comes to mind : Love: the catalyst of Life. Love of every form and degree.

The full array of human emotions are always present in Monsieur Lelouche's films. The seemingly "evil" in us, the "worst" in humanity can be transformed.

Often unnoticed details, short moments, may very well have a powerful impact on a person's destiny.

Life in cycles, the great story that never ends.

We come to this world and...

...we love, we hate, we suffer, we doubt, we hope, we despair, we sin, we forgive, we win, we lose, we learn, we love again...

as the great Tennyson wrote : " 'tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all"

I would like to thank Monsieur Lelouch for being who he is: a great poet!

The world is so fortunate to have him....

Although I'm a huge fan of Lelouch and have seen all of his films, this one was a huge disappointment. Yes I know, there are other rules when you are watching a Lelouch, that you have to see the world like a naive child does. Or like him at the time when he was a child and hidden in a cinema not to be discovered by the Nazis. But this time, nothing fits together. He wanted to create a big fresco, to tell the stories of the 20th century, about a modern woman, about his love of the cinema and about his 50 years of filmmaking. But everything is so overdone, horribly non credible, that it made me tremendously sad and angry. For example he used very much material of his past films, but a lot of it is dispensable and has almost no connection with the plot. All of the concentration camp scenes reached a level of pathos, kitsch and historical in-accurateness, that hasn't been there before even in his films. The peak was the scene where the prisoner was theatrically shot after singing the Charles Trenet song "Que reste-t-il de nos amours". A song that we here ad nauseam over and over again in the film, like the "Lily Marleen" song in Fassbinders film. Another problem is that you don't have any feelings towards the characters because everyone is a kind of cliché and their actions and relationships are badly written of seem only to be there to introduce the next big tracking shot. Even the good actors cannot change that fact. Lelouch wanted to tell us in this film about everything he loves or hates, but here he wasn't able to make fit all parts together. The only good thing in this film is Lelouchs way of filming and how he directs actors. He needs only two people in a room or a café in order to create wonderful, realistic scenes. But although I like his aphorisms very much, he certainly isn't a good screenwriter. In my personal opinion, Lelouch has always been good when he is short on money, like in his last, small and wonderful told film "Roman de Gare". He should concentrate an smaller films instead of trying to explain the universe. Because after all, even after this failure, I like the "Lelouch touch" and his ingenious and fresh way of filmmaking where anything can happen.

Big expectations,big names, promising start and trailer, epic fail.

Not coherent, not meaningful, absurd and then vulgar, very boring a very unhappy melange of things.

The lead actress - acceptable but not as good as you might think when reading other reviews. She's...average.

Very bad chosen twists, poor script, nothing leads you to the conclusion that the director wanted to highlight (I only found details in reading A LOT of press materials.

The music - although the pieces taken separately might sound nice, is used in a very annoying way.

Do not, I repeat - do not spend money and most of all time watching this.

Obvious , not a remarkable film. But nice , honest and romantic, wise using pieces of film noir and classics, reflecting the Occupation life and its compromises or cold suspicions, the seduction of Americans in France and the nightmares after war, the happiness after chain of sentimental relations and the testimony about a long life events.

But the great detail is the movie theater and its magic , scene, refuge.

A film who seduced me for its last part . For performances and for credible traits of portraits of characters. Sure, not profound but for this other movies are fair answers. But honest, I repeat. A young women and his romances and her survive. And this is all. And it is enough.