Life Is a Bed of Roses

First off, the commonly accepted translation of the title seems to be bad-It should more properly be called Life is a Fairy Tale. This film explores two main themes. The first theme involves the idea that people never really grow up-they continue to be self centered children with unrealistic views of the world. The other theme is that no individual can be happy unless some other individual is miserable. These themes are explored in typical Resnais fashion-which is to say, in a way that is in turns brilliant and confusing. Naturally, the narrative is not straightforward, rather, it is broken into two main threads and a third crucial but brief one.

The most bizarre (and off putting) thing about this film is the singing-occasionally, a character will suddenly begin singing instead of talking. The other characters tend to respond with normal dialogue as if nothing unusual was going on. This lends a sort of surreal feeling to the already odd mood of the film. According to the special features of the DVD of this, Resnais feels that it is easier to move the story along if his characters sing instead of conversing.

I've only seen this film once, but I feel that I should see it again soon. Resnais films always reward multiple viewings and I doubt this is the exception.

Having seen this film only once, in 1983 during its initial NYC engagement, I can resonantly advise anyone lucky enough to get the chance: prepare for elegant effervescence. The score by itself is unforgettable -- giddy, but it'll haunt you.

I saw Life is a Bed of Roses as an admirer of Ruggero Raimondi, and I do think it is not going to please everybody with a sometimes sluggish pace, the choral interruptions sometimes infuriating and while the three part structure to be interesting with some great ideas introduced the story can lack coherency with some ideas coming across as half-baked and people may find it difficult to get into. However, it is filmed very handsomely with the set and costume design beautifully rendered especially in the last tale. The score is wonderful, giddy and haunting, I loved the theme of the perfectibility of human existence. Of the three tales I found the Forbek tale to be the most well-done with the firmest ending and a genuine sense of drama. The last story was great in idea but never satisfactorily explored, apart from Robert's relationship with his son, everything else seemed underdeveloped and clichéd. I also admire Resnis' ambition, this is clearly an ambitious film and is well-intended, but the execution didn't quite come together. The characters are deliberately kept at distance, and while most are not very easy to empathise with, I did think Robert and Forbek were well-realised. The acting is good though, Ruggero Raimondi always was a fine actor even in the operatic roles like Don Giovanni and Scarpia that he was famous for, and I think he was a big reason why the first tale was believable. Fanny Ardent and Geraldine Chaplin play their roles with ardour, Ardent in particular is incredibly radiant. and Vittorio Gassman is a good Walter. As for Pierre Arditi he does appear obnoxious at first, but plays his role also with pathos. Overall, an uneven film but quite interesting. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Watching the first few moments, you realize it's going to be a parody - and certainly it *is* a parody, but I'm not sure of what (a fairy tale? an opera? a Hollywoodian C-movie? - if there was something like that), and I can assure you it's not worth watching. It's simply a pointless film (cf. a good parody is everything but pointless), with pretentious, shallow speeches of extremely sketchy characters. It's like a commedia dell'arte. Or better, it's like a botched commedia dell'arte. And the score... sung in an intentionally incompetent way (something Greenaway will use much more efficiently), it *is* painful to listen to (unless one wears some sate-of-the-art earplugs, haha). Go for quality movies (e.g. A. Mitta's How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor, 1976) and steer clear of this mistake.

A utopian experiment around the time of World War 1 is contrasted with an educational concourse/seminar of today. Both experiments look at idealistic solutions for the problems humans have of living with one another. Both experiments are "polluted" by idealism itself and by the very real human beings who take part in the experiments. Making a movie about philosophy is strange enough.... but this movie is a MUSICAL... and the music is lovely. The most interesting thing is that the tragedy and madness of the first experiment is contrasted with the comedy of the failure of the second experiment to make a broad statement about the inevitable failure of idealism in a world of fallible human beings. This technique is similar to Griffith's cutting in Intolerance.... Even as you laugh at the comedy, you can see how easy it would have been to fall into tragedy. The film is a perfect delight that sticks with you.

The two utopian experiments are contrasted with a medieval story that seems to comment on the other two stories....In fact, the medieval story is an idealistic view of the world as the children see it. So there are, in fact, three ideals contrasted. This makes for a very complicated structure which you may ignore if you just want to watch the interactions of the characters or listen to the delightful music.