Jacquou - Der Rebell

I had the memory of a "Jacquou Le Croquant", hero of a TV mini-series of my childhood, who had lost his parents by the fault of an aristocrat and more generally because of the post-Napoleonean social classes system, and who came to a revenge by leading a revolt especially against that social system and against the man which incarnates the cause of the tragedy of his family. On the basis of that, one expects to see a social fresco full of various emotions that goes along with the rich History of France of that period: tragedy, love, revenge, popular revolt (revolution against the established order), freedom seeking, and other great emotions which accompany this kind of epic stories… But it is not the case.

The narration is too slow and really insipid. The actors are just as pale as the story and its rhythm. What a waist for such a beautifully photographed picture! If one can afford to see Laurent Boutonnat's version of "Jacquou" is solely because it's good-looking at. Costumes and the decoration are really really superb! The director definitely is a good director of photography, and even a good soundtrack composer but certainly not a storyteller, definitely not a director.

Eugene Le Roy's book has become a classic .It was transferred to the screen as (very good)TV miniseries by Stellio Lorenzi in the late sixties.

Jaquou's story was told in the first person by a very old man (Jaquou) who remembered all his trials.It was told with a great simplicity .One remembers the first chapter (Christmas night) when the child and his mother attend the service in an icy church ,then watch the food intended for the nobles ."There's nothing good in here" the mom says ,when they come back home.This scene is completely botched in the film.

Boutonnat butchered "Jaquou Le Croquant".I dare anyone who has read the book to like it.Taking liberties with Eugene Leroy ,the movie turns the oubliettes scene (one page or two) into a horror sequence where Jaquou escapes without any help (Le Roy never wrote such nonsense).The long conversations between the priest and the freethinker knight are reduced to the minimum,which is a shame for Olivier Gourmet ,Tcheky Karyo and veteran Dora Doll (she was already there in the French forties)as Fantille give the best performances of the movie.

In the last thirty minutes,Boutonnat turns Jaquou into a French Rambo ,with the crowds ridiculously chanting his name (JA-QUOU!JA-QUOU!JA-QUOU !) as if they were on a stadium ,cheering their favorite football player.Whereas Le Roy's style came straight from the heart (his hatred for the royalty and the Ancien Regime was real but he did not impose a history lesson upon his readers),Boutonnat uses a showy style,using too many slow motion pictures ,squandering the high budget in video game style battles .

Like in America ,this tendency to remake fine miniseries ("Belphegor","Jaquou" )as silver screen movies has become a curse in France.

I saw this movie in the avant-premiere in a little cinema in the Dordogne. The music in this movie is very enchanting, the images are almost like paintings, so beautifully shot, such a fantastic nature. This movie is very powerful with lots of drama and love. Laurent Boutonnat has definitely evolved artistically since his last movie Giorgino (1994). Also the music, besides the classical Boutonnat elements, like arpeggios of violins, synthesizers mixed with acoustical instruments, ethnic instruments, in-versed chords and simple melodies, has definitely evolved. The main character (Jacquou), played by Gaspard Ulliel is very believable. The title song is sung by the French icon Mylène Farmer.

I have just seen that movie (3 years later after it's release on big screen) and was wondering who was the maker of it. So by curiosity I decided to have a look on IMDb.

Anyway I needed to come back on the comment of "charlesxgonzalez" Please do not take in consideration the review of that person that obviously is a joke...

Jacquou le croquant is a GREAT movie, beautiful actors, beautiful scenery, enchanting musics and great acting.

I would like to know how that kind of comment "Gaspard Ulliel is okay as far as french actors can go" can be a "positive comment" except being a RACIAL and useless comment made by someone that obviously live in the US??

Of course there is not a single "fuck" contains in dialogs every 5 minutes and neither any special effects or some poor classic Hollywood scenario of saving a blonde bimbo from bad guys as USA movie specialty can be...

Obviously "charlesxgonzalez" was expecting for more "skin" which have nothing to do with that kind of movies and should definitely go back to watch some "Baywatch" episodes staring wonderful actors such as "The Hoff" or "Pamela Handerson"...

When I read such poor main comment published on IMDb about a beautiful movie like this, it does make me doubt of the veracity of that reknown website... Come on administrator do something it is a scandal to read that!!

I won't go back on the scenario as people earlier on described it better than I would but on a scale of 1 to 10 I would give it an 8 to the all movie and on a scale of 1 to 10 about "charlesxgonzalez" comment I would give it a -1...

Please people do watch it, please administrator do get rid of charlesxgonzalez comment... It is not constructive and it is RACIAL...(and I am trying to stay polite!!!).

Cheers.

I have just read the other reviews and must say I loved this film enormously because it is so beautiful and authentic to the period, and not in the mindset of those hideous films the American's churn out like popcorn, with Hansel and Gretel with machine guns or whatever. I didn't find the pace slow at all, watching the lead character grow up was sad and gut-wrenching, a beautiful performance by the child actor. This film is filled with subtle tender moments, and also moments of horror early on, when the boy loses his beloved pet dog. The arrogance and non feeling for others less fortunate by the aristocrats set the tone for the film. The sets and country scenes are superb, and once Gaspard Ulliel appears as the boy grown up, you really are aware of a great performance, by one of France's hottest young actors. (soon to be seen as Yves Saint Laurent in the biography picture of that name). I actually wanted more, and wondered what happened to the characters after the film had finished. Its hard to explain how I feel after seeing a good French film. But if you have visited Paris and truly felt its magic, then you are halfway there. This film sweeps you away to another time and place, makes you feel empathy for the characters, makes you shed a few tears, and long for the hero to win. In the end, when Gaspard remembers his childhood dog running through the grass... in his mind, that really got to me.... as all the best classics do. Robert. Australia.