Les uns et les autres

I may not remember everything, but this film has been on my mind since I saw it 23 years ago. I was in high school in a small town in Iowa. One of our band directors had a large collection of film on tape and laser disc. He would have movie parties for kids he taught. I showed an interest in film and he would screen some films I would have otherwise never have seen. I remember watching Bolero. (I do not think I knew it was known by any other name) I was in absolute awe of this film. The music, the story, the pacing - everything you couldn't get from popular American films.

I have avoided seeing it again in the intervening time because I did not want my more grown up sensibilities to have a different opinion of the film. After reading some of the comments here I can feel safe to view it again.

Along three generations, the lives of different families in Russia, France, Germany and United States of America, all of them connected to music and dance, are affected by the World War II. In Russia, the Bolshoi ballerina Tatiana Itovitch (Rita Poelvoorde) loses her husband, the musician Boris Itovitch (Jorge Donn), in the Russian front. She raises alone their son, the professional dancer Sergei (Jorge Donn), who escapes from Soviet Union and coming to have a daughter, the also ballerina Tania. In France, the Jewish violinist Anne Meyer (Nicole Garcia) marries the pianist Simon Meyer (Robert Hossein), and both are sent to a concentration camp, where Simon dies. On the train travel to the camp, Simon leaves their baby son on the trails and he is raised by a priest, becoming the lawyer Robert Prat (Robert Hossein), who has a professional singer son. Also in France, in Paris after the war, the singer Evelyne (Evelyne Bouix) is accused of sleeping with the enemy, and moves to Dijon, where she has a daughter, Edith (Evelyne Bouix). In Germany, the pianist and conductor Karl Kremer (Daniel Olbrychski) leaves his wife Magda Kremer (Macha Méril) and their son to fight in the war. In USA, the famous pop singer Jack Glenn (James Caan) leaves his wife Suzan Glenn (Geraldine Chaplin) to join the army and entertain the troops in London. Their gay son Jason Glenn (James Caan) and daughter, the singer Sara Glenn (Geraldine Chaplin) become important persons in the show business. Their lives are entwined in a Red Cross presentation of the Ravel's Bolero in Paris.

"Les Uns et les Autres" is the masterpiece of Claude Lelouch and is one of my favorite movies ever. First time I saw it I was amazed with such a magnificent story. The direction, the story, the cast, the soundtrack, the location, everything works perfectly in this overwhelming film. The long scenes are fantastically well filmed and Claude Lelouch was certainly inspired when he made this wonder. Only a couple of months ago, this DVD was released in Brazil by the Brazilian distributor "Classicline" and yesterday I saw it again, for my delight after twenty and something years. The unknown Sharon Stone has a minor uncredited participation in the end of the movie, watching the show on TV in bed with Jack Glenn. "Les Uns et les Autres" is a highly recommended movie, for lovers of arts and cinema. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Retratos da Vida" ("Pictures of the Life")

Note: On 10 February 2014, I saw this wonderful movie again.

First thing to bear in mind is that like Hossein's "les Miserables" or Enrico's "Au Nom de Tous les Miens",the movie which was theatrically released is a digest of a miniseries ,the running time of which exceeded six hours.In three hours,there are too many characters ,and Lelouch uses the same thespians to portray the parents and the children (Chaplin,Caan,Bouix...)which sometimes is a mess.But it's Hossein who gets the biscuit:even "made look younger" ,he was 54 at the time and it's impossible to believe he is a soldier coming back from the Algeria war.

It can be looked upon as a musical ,but the only musical sequence which is really awesome is Ravel's bolero where the four (French,Russian,German and American) families prove us (as if we did not understand) that it's better making music than making war.Thank you and God bless you all.

That said ,there's that optimistic bourgeois side in Lelouch's movies;it's so glaring here that it becomes sometimes unbearable.With a few exceptions (Garcia's husband,the girl who used to play around with the Germans,victims of war),it's a success story.We deal with educated brilliant people whose career will take them to megastardom after the war.There's a French film made up of sketches called "Retour à la vie" which depicted the fates of four men and a woman after WW2.Their future was not so bright: the concentration camps ,it's not a thing you forget overnight.You are going to say,Nicole Garcia ends up in an insane asylum.Probably but long after the war.In "Retour à la vie" Aunt Anna was so weak and so traumatized she could not utter one word.

The cast is admittedly impressive.But if the leads were not played by celebrities such as James Caan,Geraldine Chaplin or Fanny Ardant,we would be lost in a terrible mess.Ansd sometimes I must confess I do not know if it's the father (mother) or the son (daughter).And Lelouch spared us the third generation (they are still brats).To think that the last part of "Toute une Vie" (1974) another extravaganza which spanned a century,the last part was pure sci-fi and took us down to the future world! Les uns will like.Les autres won't.

Just viewed this movie on a DVD from Netflix. This movie is what a motion picture can be in the hands of an intelligent and talented director.

The photography was wonderful, the use of color was spectacular, the sound was excellent, and the music and performances were top notch. I especially liked the full symphony orchestra segments and the American big band segments. The Folies-type musical numbers were also done with flair, and Geraldine Chaplin proved herself to be a classy cabaret singer (assuming her voice wasn't dubbed). Michel Legrand I believe was responsible for the music, which was first rate throughout.

All production values were of the highest order.

The final dance sequence, which lasted far longer than anything Hollywood would permit, was phenomenal; the late Jorge Donn was not Nureyev, but spectacular all the same. The robustness and uncompromisingly balletic style of the finale put the ballet sequences in a couple of American movies--American In Paris and Carousel-- in the shade.

Released in the U.S. as Bolero, apparently. Without car chases, explosions, etc., I doubt if it did very well at the box office over here.

Well, I'm obviously not alone in saying this is the best, the greatest, the finest movie, etc. So what's with the rating? Again, as in many cases of movies with few votes, a small group skews the score to a ridiculous level. I saw this masterpiece in Paris when it came out in the early 1980's, and went back to see it the nest day. It was too much exquisite detail to take in during one sole session. The development of the characters, interwoven into the fabric of tragedy that was the war, the haunting Bolero by Ravel. Devastingly beautiful touching, and grand. Since this film, Lelouche (A MAN AND A WOMAN, LES MISERABLES (1994) has made a few films touching on his autobiographical experiences as a young Jew, during the Holocaust. This movie was made before there were dozens of them to compare to, like Lelouche's own perhaps just as good LES MIS... with Jean-Paul Belmondo. Having lived in France, I know there are many cinephiles who just outright hate Lelouche. These feelings, as I have experienced them, are thinly-veiled anti-semitic feelings. Say, it may be an "artsy" way of saying I'm an anti-semite: J'aime pas Lelouche. I think this is why this movie is undeservedly ranked so low in this base. I came across, and voted on it a while back, precisely because the rating shocked me so. As I went through the comments though today, I was happy to see I was not alone, and thought I would throw my "ten francs worth" in. I want to buy it for my collection.