Chicago – It’s difficult to find a thematic trilogy with a conclusion as triumphant and potent as “Au Revoir Les Enfants.” The 1987 fact-based drama emerged as one of the great masterpieces in the career of Louis Malle, a giant of the French New Wave perhaps best known for his intimate two-character piece, 1981’s “My Dinner With Andre.” His films possess a purity and authenticity unmatched by many of his peers.
After a few critical and financial disappointments in America, Malle decided to get back in touch with his roots as a documentarian in the mid-80s (he won the Palme d’Or at age 24 for co-directing Jacques Cousteau’s “Le monde du silence”). Soon afterward, he returned to France and finally tackled the project he had promised to make once he was ready to do it justice. The plot of “Enfants” was directly inspired by an indelible memory from the director’s childhood.
After a few critical and financial disappointments in America, Malle decided to get back in touch with his roots as a documentarian in the mid-80s (he won the Palme d’Or at age 24 for co-directing Jacques Cousteau’s “Le monde du silence”). Soon afterward, he returned to France and finally tackled the project he had promised to make once he was ready to do it justice. The plot of “Enfants” was directly inspired by an indelible memory from the director’s childhood.
- 3/23/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Hitting movie theaters this weekend:
Limitless – Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro
The Lincoln Lawyer – Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe
Paul – Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen
Movie of the Week
Limitless
The Stars: Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro
The Plot: A copywriter (Cooper) discovers a top-secret drug which gives him super-human abilities.
The Buzz: Until recently, I couldn’t stand Bradley Cooper — and no, it wasn’t his role in A-Team that won me over, it was, hearkening back a decade, his role in the television series ‘Alias.’ Yes, I’m a total johnny-come-lately when it comes to that show, but I love it, and I love Bradley Cooper in it. He can act, I was surprised to see. His success with ‘Alias’ ultimately launched his career, and now, ten years later, here he is approaching A-list status, starring in a fine-looking action film,...
Limitless – Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro
The Lincoln Lawyer – Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe
Paul – Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen
Movie of the Week
Limitless
The Stars: Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro
The Plot: A copywriter (Cooper) discovers a top-secret drug which gives him super-human abilities.
The Buzz: Until recently, I couldn’t stand Bradley Cooper — and no, it wasn’t his role in A-Team that won me over, it was, hearkening back a decade, his role in the television series ‘Alias.’ Yes, I’m a total johnny-come-lately when it comes to that show, but I love it, and I love Bradley Cooper in it. He can act, I was surprised to see. His success with ‘Alias’ ultimately launched his career, and now, ten years later, here he is approaching A-list status, starring in a fine-looking action film,...
- 3/16/2011
- by Aaron Ruffcorn
- The Scorecard Review
Au Revoir Les Enfants / Goodbye, Children (1987) Direction and screenplay: Louis Malle Cast: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré De Malberg, François Berléand, Philippe Morier-Genoud, Irène Jacob Oscar Movies, European Film Award Movies Highly Recommended Raphael Fejtö, Gaspard Manesse, Au revoir les enfants Synopsis: At a Catholic boys' school in occupied France, a snotty rich kid, Julien (Gaspard Manesse), slowly befriends an unusual newcomer, Bonnet (Raphael Fejtö), who happens to be a Jewish boy in hiding. The Pros: Unlike Roman Polanski's The Pianist and Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, the two best-known movies about the persecution of Jews during the Nazi era, Louis Malle's Au revoir les enfants actually feels true to life. In Malle's autobiographical story, there are no movie heroes, no bullshit about the "triumph of the human spirit," and no one cries "I could have done more" or some such. Au revoir les enfants...
- 3/8/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Age of Man ... Now or Never!
PARIS -- The Age of Man ... Now or Never! (L'age d'homme ... maintenant ou jamais!), Raphael Fejto's second feature, begins promisingly, with thirtysomething filmmaker Samuel setting a 24-hour deadline to make a delicate decision: Should he or should he not, after a lifetime of happily unmarried bliss, tie the knot with Tina, his live-in girlfriend of the past year?
Having set the stage for a romantic comedy, Fejto appears to have decided that he also would like the movie to function as a comedy of manners, or at least of existential angst. His ambivalence, reflected in the double-barreled title, mirrors that of his protagonist.
With Romain Duris, arguably France's most gifted young star, in the starring role, the movie might achieve boxoffice impact in its own territory. But its lightweight blend of incident, whimsy and fantasy is unlikely to travel well.
The crucial missing ingredient is a compelling story line. Samuel spends most of his time bickering with Tina (Aissa Maiga), a good-natured photographer, and hanging out with his pals Jorge (Clement Sibony) and Mounir (Rachid Djaidani), chewing over the pros and cons of matrimony.
Jorge already has opted for commitment to a partner and is more interested in practical matters like a choice of refrigerator. Mounir too is thinking of taking the plunge by agreeing to a request by his latest flame to have a baby even though he knows she is a lesbian at heart and might be just using him for procreational purposes.
Samuel, meanwhile, engages in daydream dialogues with his double dressed as Leonardo Da Vinci or fantasies about himself living as a caveman. He remains sensitive to the charms of other women, wistfully checking out a woman he encounters while visiting an apartment to rent and later at the swimming pool, and then spending the night with a woman who casually picks him up in a nightclub (cue clumsily simulated sex scenes).
He even fails to meet his own deadline, as considerably more than 24 hours have passed before, on a Tunisian beach, he faces Tina and squares up to doing what a man's gotta do.
There is plenty of talent on display. Pluses include Mathias Raaflaub's sunwashed cinematography, a jazz-funk musical soundtrack featuring Nina Simone, Curtis Mayfield and Amy Winehouse and a male cheesecake quotient in the form of the Duris torso.
But the spectator is left wondering why he should care. Fejto ducks ethnic or generational issues that might have added perspective to Samuel's ego-obsessed maunderings. Tina is black, Jorge Hispanic and Mounir North African, and other minorities are also visible, but none of this is ever referred to, which might possibly be a tribute to France's success in multicultural assimilation but more likely is simply an evasion. And there is not a parent in sight.
Duris, a boyhood friend of Fejto's, starred in his debut feature Osmosis in 2003 as did Sibony and Djaidani, and several of the crew also worked on the earlier movie. Maiga, despite having little to do, confirms her growing reputation as a talented actress.
Fejto, who came to notice as a child actor in Louis Malle's Au revoir, les enfants and made his first video short at 17, has clearly mastered the language of cinema. It is not yet clear that he has anything to say.
THE AGE OF MAN ... NOW OR NEVER
UGC YM, France 2 Cinema
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Raphael Fejto
Producer: Yves Marmion
Director of photography: Mathias Raaflaub
Production designer: Samuel Deshors
Music: Matthieu Aschehoug, Tal
Costume designer: Charlotte Toscan du Plantier
Editor: Mathilde Bertrandy
Cast:
Samuel: Romain Duris
Tina: Aissa Maiga
Jorge: Clement Sibony
Mounir: Rachid Djaidani
Vittorio: Tarubi
Woman in Flat: Maria Jurado
Nightclub Woman: Irina Solano
Running time -- 88 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Having set the stage for a romantic comedy, Fejto appears to have decided that he also would like the movie to function as a comedy of manners, or at least of existential angst. His ambivalence, reflected in the double-barreled title, mirrors that of his protagonist.
With Romain Duris, arguably France's most gifted young star, in the starring role, the movie might achieve boxoffice impact in its own territory. But its lightweight blend of incident, whimsy and fantasy is unlikely to travel well.
The crucial missing ingredient is a compelling story line. Samuel spends most of his time bickering with Tina (Aissa Maiga), a good-natured photographer, and hanging out with his pals Jorge (Clement Sibony) and Mounir (Rachid Djaidani), chewing over the pros and cons of matrimony.
Jorge already has opted for commitment to a partner and is more interested in practical matters like a choice of refrigerator. Mounir too is thinking of taking the plunge by agreeing to a request by his latest flame to have a baby even though he knows she is a lesbian at heart and might be just using him for procreational purposes.
Samuel, meanwhile, engages in daydream dialogues with his double dressed as Leonardo Da Vinci or fantasies about himself living as a caveman. He remains sensitive to the charms of other women, wistfully checking out a woman he encounters while visiting an apartment to rent and later at the swimming pool, and then spending the night with a woman who casually picks him up in a nightclub (cue clumsily simulated sex scenes).
He even fails to meet his own deadline, as considerably more than 24 hours have passed before, on a Tunisian beach, he faces Tina and squares up to doing what a man's gotta do.
There is plenty of talent on display. Pluses include Mathias Raaflaub's sunwashed cinematography, a jazz-funk musical soundtrack featuring Nina Simone, Curtis Mayfield and Amy Winehouse and a male cheesecake quotient in the form of the Duris torso.
But the spectator is left wondering why he should care. Fejto ducks ethnic or generational issues that might have added perspective to Samuel's ego-obsessed maunderings. Tina is black, Jorge Hispanic and Mounir North African, and other minorities are also visible, but none of this is ever referred to, which might possibly be a tribute to France's success in multicultural assimilation but more likely is simply an evasion. And there is not a parent in sight.
Duris, a boyhood friend of Fejto's, starred in his debut feature Osmosis in 2003 as did Sibony and Djaidani, and several of the crew also worked on the earlier movie. Maiga, despite having little to do, confirms her growing reputation as a talented actress.
Fejto, who came to notice as a child actor in Louis Malle's Au revoir, les enfants and made his first video short at 17, has clearly mastered the language of cinema. It is not yet clear that he has anything to say.
THE AGE OF MAN ... NOW OR NEVER
UGC YM, France 2 Cinema
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Raphael Fejto
Producer: Yves Marmion
Director of photography: Mathias Raaflaub
Production designer: Samuel Deshors
Music: Matthieu Aschehoug, Tal
Costume designer: Charlotte Toscan du Plantier
Editor: Mathilde Bertrandy
Cast:
Samuel: Romain Duris
Tina: Aissa Maiga
Jorge: Clement Sibony
Mounir: Rachid Djaidani
Vittorio: Tarubi
Woman in Flat: Maria Jurado
Nightclub Woman: Irina Solano
Running time -- 88 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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