Au revoir là-haut

I watched Au Revoir Là-Haut (See You Up There for the English title) followed by Adieu Les Cons (Bye Bye Morons for the English title), both movies by writer/director Albert Dupontel, in which he also plays the major role. I can only say I'm a fan from now on. Au Revoir Là-Haut has a very artistic touch in the story, which made it very enjoyable to watch. It's just a special movie, something different from the rest, with an interesting engaging story, all well written, but also very well acted and that from the whole cast. It clearly deserves it's high rating on here. I can't see what people could dislike about this movie. It's certainly one of the better French movies I watched this decennia. You can't really compare it to Adieu Les Cons which has a totally different story but you certainly recognize that typical vibe you get from Albert Dupontel.

I wish I could give it 50 STARS. In my over 70 years of watching movies, this is probably the best of tens of thousands. The sheer enjoyment I felt watching propelled me to buy the book; the book is in a superb English translation and just marvelous.

This could have easily been a movie directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, if you consider the style, fashion, atmosphere, directing, acting, editing and so on...I strongly thought about JP Jeunet's UN LONG DIMANCHE DE FIANCAILLES all long this feature, and not because it is related to WW1 and also post war matters. Everything here is connected in a way or another in the Jeunet's film. That's my own opinion. The story itself, based on the Goncourt Prize winner, is rather surprising, unusual at the most. I don't quite remember the ending of the book and this one seems to be different, if you read the other French user comments on Internet. Maybe the ending is different, but the overall spirit of the novel is followed, faithful. Nothing is changed basically spoken. Only details. Some really moving sequences. And in this tale, you have NO totally good and true heroes. You have a real bad ass, a real heavy character, played by Laurent Laffite, as a ruthless and disgusting former assassin officer who killed two of his own men and who makes money on the war victims. The other characters are maybe better than him, but certainly not totally white. Swindlers, cheaters, liars, Dupontel's character himself can make you Dizzy from time to time. Dupontel was pretty lucky to make this high budget stuff for Gaumont productions. A daring topic. Worth watching for sure. Besides, Bertrand Tavernier had already made a film about post WW1 issue concerning dead bodies or unkown corpses business and - or - swindle: LA VIE ET RIEN D'AUTRE. It was in 1989.

November 1919. Two survivors of the trenches meet. One, Edouard Péricourt, the son of a good family disfigured during the conflict, is a genius draftsman, the other, Albert Maillard, is a modest accountant. They join forces to set up a war memorial scam. Albert Dupontel became known for his crazy and squeaky comedies, not to everyone's taste. Voluntarily poorly made at the beginning, his biting comedies gradually gained in artistic quality. For example, the film "Neuf mois ferme", which preceded this one, was already distinguished by its elaborate direction and impressive formal finds, which only made the satirical background more abrasive. He does even better with "Au revoir là-haut", a very successful adaptation of Pierre Lemaître's best-selling novel. A dazzling opening sequence, brilliant craftsmanship, a convincing period reconstruction, and high-quality special effects: Albert Dupontel brilliantly confirms that he has become a major filmmaker. What'is great is that being at the helm of a superproduction does mean he renounces his convictions: in this film co-written with Pierre Lemaître, as in others of which he is the sole author, he questions conformism, hypocrisy and authoritarianism while praising, as a good self-respecting anarchist, personal morality and the responsible individual's recourse to his own resources. Dupontel's main target is the self-righteousness of the time (the grandiloquent whining about the dead of 14-18, whose massacre is made up under the more presentable names of heroism and sacrifice) end the least we can say is that he bites home. Through his "sacrilegious heroes," he asks a question to which everyone will answer in their own way: who is more guilty, the two crooks, a gifted artist with a broken face and a crafty entrepreneur forsaken by the authorities, or those who turned hundreds of thousands of young people full of life into cannon fodder? The cast is excellent and without wanting to insult the spirit of the troupe shown by all the actors, we will nevertheless singularize two performances particularly out of the ordinary: Niels Arestrup as a dominating and icy father and Laurent Lafitte, properly terrifying as a sadistic military man who, after the war, turns into a... sadistic civilian. A deserved success, both public and critical, for Albert Dupontel, who has now entered the big league.

We loved this french movie. We were glued to our chairs, because every scène of the movie was good. The art, the beleivable caracters, the storyline was surprising. It was cruel, funny, beautiful, entertaining. We loved every bit of it!