Vous n'avez encore rien vu

Even at the very end of his career, (he was going on 90 at the time), Alain Resnais remained one of cinema's most original and innovative directors, choosing to introduce the cast of his penulitmate film "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", not as 'characters' but as themselves so the people seen answering their telephones are Michel Piccoli, Lambert Wilson, Sabine Azema and so on, who will continue in the film both as themselves and as characters in a production of "Eurydice" by Jean Anouilh as they watch it being performed by the Compagnie de la Colombe while stepping in and out of roles they once made famous.

What follows is a film within a film or maybe just a play within a film, (rather than simply a filmed play), performed by Resnais' stock company in a style straight out of Agatha Christie. It's like a documentary being played out as fiction and, of course, it's an exercise in great acting. Indeed, if anything, this is Resnais' comment on what constitutes 'acting'. As Resnais' stock company interact with the players of the Compagnie de la Colombe we have to ask are they performing 'roles' or simply being themselves?

Of course, the film itself is a tour-de-force by one of the giants of cinema who isn't afraid to strip everything away, (sets and all if necessary), to get to the core of his material while bowling us over with his technical virtuosity at the same time. I know the term 'masterpiece' is used much too often in the cinema but this really is a masterpiece and is shamefully neglected in the Resnais canon.

A theater playwright leaves instructions to be obeyed after his death to all his former performers of his theatrical version of the ancient Greek legend "Eurydice" to gather themselves at his house (an old big mansion) to appreciate the performance of that play by a recent company which is shown on a film. What goes on then is that there is a strong interpenetration of the acting by the new performers and one by the old ones who recreate now some scenes at the playwrights' house while watching the film. Here the dichotomies youth -- old age, death -- life and theatre -- real life are patent and crossed by love through rich, deep and poetic dialogues. The role of memory in human relations (a theme very dear to Resnais) is also present now and then. This is not an easy movie, I mean a movie practically accessible to the general public and needs special attention by the viewer.

You Ain't Seen Nothing' Yet! is an elegant endeavor concerning a group of veteran actors (all of whom are playing themselves) who are gathered at a recently-deceased playwright's home to view his will. They sit in a lavish but obviously artificial set that is his screening room and are told they are about to view one of the man's play, titled Eurydice performed by a young cast of actors who are a part of "La Compagnie de la Colombe." While the actors are much too old to play the roles now, they nevertheless begin reciting the dialog themselves, acting it out in the screening room, and eventually, all throughout the playwright's home. The entire thing becomes a smooth and fascinating depiction of nostalgia, age, and life itself.

Ostensibly, there isn't much here to warrant a film, but director Alain Resnais, who is ninety-one years old, instills energy and fuel into the story at hand, almost making You Ain't Seen Nothing' Yet! to be the work of a younger filmmaker. However, the elements dealing with age and love assure this is the work of an older, more experienced soul. The film shows the mindset and the captivation of a group of people who just discovered that one of their influences has died and they're watching his swan song. Because of this, they seem to recount their own lives, realize that there time may be soon indeed. They start to channel their younger-selves, become caught up in the moment, and energetically perform the play they once did years back in an impromptu manner. It's like watching your grandparents quote events from their life or sit around the dinner table and talk about things they once did.

The whole exercise is nostalgic and whimsical, and Resnais does a beautiful job at making sure we're not exactly sure we're the film is going to go. An exercise like this could become dry after a while (and, to be fair, the film does sort of run its course by the seventy-minute mark). Therefore, Resnais includes eccentric, comedic elements, in addition to lyrical direction to keep audiences attentive to what they're watching.

The final piece to take note of are the sets, which look like sets straight out of a play (for all I know they are). The artificial-look of the aesthetics give the film sort of a self-referential kind of feel, as if we're watching people watching a play inside a play. Whether or not that was the intention of Resnais, I can't say, but the feeling provides for a pleasantly close-to-home aspect for the film.

You Ain't Seen Nothing' Yet! is five minutes shy of two hours and feels every bit as long. After so long, the film becomes a bit grating and seems to run out of steam. But thanks to Resnais being aware of this and the themes the film does propose, it manages to rise past its runtime to show us some truly memorable takeaway points. The film is also a beautiful showcase of French acting, in addition to its themes of life and love. It's one of the most idiosyncratic and personal stories of the year.

Directed by: Alain Resnais.

Alain Resnais directed the French film Vous n'avez encore rien vu (2012). Google Translate gives us, "You Have Not Seen Anything Yet." That's not a great title, but "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" is even worse. It sounds like a movie about a Country and Western band, but it isn't. (It really, really isn't.)

A famous director has died, and in his will, he calls together a group of veteran actors to watch a film of the play Eurydice. All of the actors have appeared in this play, and as they watch a new production on a screen, the start to repeat their lines of this play that they remember from their youth.

To say that the movie is unique doesn't really do it justice. It's certainly one of a kind. A friend, very familiar with French culture, said, "It's a very French movie."

The film has a weak IMDb rating of 6.4. I agreed, and rated it 6.

Reviewer's P. S. We saw the film at the Dryden Theatre in Rochester's George Eastman Museum. The Dryden collaborated with Pegasus Early Music by showing four films about the Orpheus legend in August 2022. Pegasus is staging Monteverdi's L'Orfeo 8/26,27,28. A musician and soprano from Pegasus gave a short concert before the movie.