Les oiseaux se cachent pour mourir

Very well done; highly watchable. Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward are okay as the tortured lovers, but the acting kudos go to Barbara Stanwyck and Christopher Plummer. Stanwyck won an emmy for her role and Plummer was nominated for his. (He should have won.) Ms. Stanwyck's final scene is wrenching--the emotion came straight out of her guts and no matter how many times I see it, it chokes me up. She was one of the greats and it shows in this performance. Christopher Plummer's portrayal of "Vittorio," Ralph's friend and mentor in the church, is delightful and oh, so perceptive. He sees right through Ralph and we see what he knows in his eyes--subtle and convincing; a good role for Plummer. Numerous plot lines, interesting locations, adventure, romance, tragedy, strong cast, great music, thought-provoking theme, engaging script--I recommend it!

My Mother talked me into watching this movie with her about 15 years ago. I loved it but didn't quite understand all the emotion behind it. I watched it again this past week and was amazed at how differently it spoke to me.

We can learn so much about love, forgiving and humility from this story. I also loved how in the end Meggie and her mother finally come to understand one another and her mother is able to show her the love she has longing for. It's a great reminder to not put off showing love to those close to us, but to be like Meggie and give it whether it is given or not.

If it's been a while see it again, because your perspective has changed and it will mean something different to you today.

If you have never seen it before, I think it is well worth the time you'll invest in seeing it. But be sure to grab some tissues.

I saw this movie first time when I was 16. I didn't understand it at first, but after that I got the novel and read it all over in 3 days. I have a VHS copy of this movie at home and I usually watch it twice a year (It means that I have nearly watched it more than 20 times). Every time I watch it I can't give any breaks! Last night I watched it till the end again until 6am... It always makes me sad and I can't stop my emotions, I cry (together with smiles) for a forbidden love.... especially the last 30 minutes of the movie.

Very great movie with a wonderful music, the best movie I have ever seen in my life, I always have recommended it for all my friends and the people who believe in existence of a true love. I am going to buy the DVD version of this movie for myself, although I have VHS version of it.

I always adore the acting of both Richard (Ralph) and Rachel (Maggie). Both of them have done best in this movie and I have become to love Rachel Ward since I saw this movie.

I hope the people who read my comment have seen the movie. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend you to hire it and watch it till the end at least once in your life time.

Richard Chamberlain became an even bigger heartthrob with the advent of this epic mini-series, Rachel Ward became a star, and Barbara Stanwyk made a major comeback and stole the show in only three hours of on-screen time. "The Thorn Birds", based on Colleen McCullough's best-selling epic novel takes place in the Australia of the 1920's and stretches across three generations to the 1960's and tells the story of a life-long romance between an ambitious priest (Chamberlain) and the woman who only wanted his love. Rachel Ward is a beautiful rose as Meggie, Richard Chamberlain is an ideal Ralph de Bricassart and Barbara Stanwyk is at her best as Mary Carson, Meggie's aunt, the richest yet loneliest woman in Australia. She desires Ralph for herself but he easily spurns her and she takes revenge on him with unmerciful vengeance. He had broken his vow of obedience prior to meeting Mary Carson and she sets out to cause him to break his other vows of poverty and especially chastity. When she dies suddenly she leaves her entire estate to the Church in Rome with Ralph in soul charge as overseer (vow of poverty now broken). She also knows that sooner or later he will hopelessly succumb to Meggie's wish of receiving his love. Several years pass before that vow is broken but it eventually is and what comes of it is a deep, dark secret that will either make or break Ralph. The entire supporting cast is brilliant also: Barbara Stanwyk, Richard Kiley and Jean Simmons all won an Emmy for their performances. Piper Laurie, Christopher Plummer and Bryan Brown were all nominated but poor, little Rachel Ward and Mare Winningham got the shaft. See it! It's a full, rich story with powerful stamina!

For anyone who has suffered through the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune in love, this 1983 mini-series will touch their hearts like no other film or TV series ever made. The casting was perfect in every way to bring the story of the Australian Cleary family to life so vividly (Jean Simmons as the mother "Fee" won the Emmy Award that year; unfortunately Henry Mancini didn't for his gorgeous musical score, and he deserved to win!).

While the main thrust of this story and film appears on the surface to be the love of a Roman Catholic priest for a young girl whom he sees grow into adulthood, the underlying, truly poignant aspect of this story is about the long-term effects of what happens to children when mothers love one child more than another. This theme is the real heart tugger here. Meggie is an afterthought to her mother Fee until the very end of the story (Frank is her favorite child, even though he is troubled, because Frank was the love child of a pre-marital affair), and later on when Meggie becomes a mother Dane is her favorite child (also a product of a clandestine love), and her daughter Justine is the afterthought.

It is this basic lack of love that each child feels from his or her mother that determines the choices they make in life (i.e. Meggie choses to love someone who cannot commit to her, Justine choses to avoid love altogether and throw herself into acting to escape reality, Frank goes off and kills a man because he cannot deal with loving his mother too much, Ralph reveals his mother abandoned him early so he too inclines towards a non-committal type of love with Meggie and escapes through the church, etc.)

The pattern develops early and continues throughout the lives of the Clearys. That is why, to me, the most profoundly moving scenes in this entire series are right near the end: 1) when the old Fee has to tell Meggie that her son Dane has died, and she caresses Meggie's face for the first time in both their lives, and 2) the scene in the stable barn, between Meggie and Justine, as they confront the truth: that Meggie does love Justine, but Dane WAS the favorite child, for reasons beyond Justine's control. In hugging Fee and crying in grief, and in resolving her differences with Justine, Meggie finally finds the peace she needs in life; she is then able to let go of Ralph when the inevitable takes him from her for good.