Le bar de la fourche

The original soundtrack features a Brel song written for the movie called "La Chanson De Van Horst",the last verse of which is particularly depressing;but depressing,the movie is not.

It tells the Canadian adventures of a Flemish man(!),a raider ,who meets a young lad and introduces him to the joys of life .While the Europeans are waging war (it's 1917) ,the place the two heroes wind up in ,"Le Bar De La Fourche" (the pitchfork bar),is the "peace bar" ,where they spit on the army recruiter who wants these revelers to die gloriously for the Alsace and the Lorraine.But Van Horst and his artless fellow are more interested in women,and they both want to marry Annie Smith (Isabelle Huppert,her debut if we do not count her very small part in "Faustine Ou Le Bel Eté").

Unfortunately ,the screenplay is desultory ,and the director leaves his actors to their own devices,which leads good ones such as Rosy Varte and Brel himself to overplay."Le Bar De La Fourche" has its moments ,but, as a whole ,it's sometimes boring.