Paul and Michelle

I disagree with a reviewer who says that the music from the first film is "dreck" and that the music of this sequel is even worse. First off, I am prejudiced because I and my wife-to-be used "Michelle's Song" (Cast a pebble on the water, watch the ripples slowly spreading...) for our Wedding! To each his own.

Actually, I found the melody of the song in Paul and Michelle to be very pretty, sweet... and ever so sad, particularly when played by a wind instrument at the very end of the movie! What I think that the other reviewer is noticing is the overly intellectual, just plain poor lyrics that go with that melody. The lyrics are too heavy and wordy and it kills the melody. The jazzy arrangement at the beginning of the film doesn't do justice to the melody, as the singer at the beginning of the film doesn't do justice to the melody either. So, on its own, the melody is not dreck or worse, it is hauntingly sad when played in its orchestral arrangement alone, but the lyrics and singing of the song using that tearful melody never should have happened!

This is the sequel to the unlikely 1971 hit "Friends", a movie about rich British boy living in Paris who meets a poor, orphaned French girl and runs off with her to "play house" in the countryside, only to end up with a child. It's three years later and Paul has just graduated as head boy from a tony private school and is planning to attend the Sorbonne in the fall. He decides to spend the summer seeking out Michelle and his illegitimate child (apparently they'd never heard of legally obligated child support in France at the time). He finds her living with another man (Keir Dullea), who is an accomplished judo master. Just when you think Paul is finally going to get his teeth kicked down his throat (after he takes Michelle to a cheap hotel for sex on their first get-reacquainted date), Dullea's character does something quite unbelievable instead which clears the way for the movie to needlessly cover the EXACT same ground it had already trod in the first film.

The best reason to see this film is no doubt beautiful French actress Anicee Alvina, who is obviously no less appealing here at 20 than she was at 17 in the earlier film. Once again, she has plenty of nude scenes (including a flashback) that are each, of course, completely essential to the plot. Far be it from me to complain about THAT, but by this time Alvina had begun to appear in deranged Alain Robbe-Grillet art/porn films and the above-par Italian giallo "Anima Persae", which make just as good of use her, but are also much more worthwhile viewing than this rather saccharine film. And Alvina also didn't have to speak English in those films. Usually, cute French girls with accents are even more sexy, but Alvina seems to speak English only phonetically in both of these movies, and it gets more than a little irritating.

I also can't rave about Elton John, who provided the surprising hit song for the first film, but the music in this sequel is much, much worse than even the worst dreck in the Elton John oeuvre. This film is not really a bad film, but it simply has no reason to really exist, no real "raison d'etre" (hey, I think my French is better than Alvina's English). They should probably have just quit while they were ahead. . .

Letter from Sean Bury:

Hi Stephen and Judith,

Please forgive me, but my Friend Anicee died nearly 10 years ago this coming November 6th... her wonderful husband rang me that same evening with a voice so full of deep sadness ... It was all I could do just to thank him and express my deepest empathy for him and all the children .... and even now I still find it painful to discuss, some days I can and some when I just just cannot..... this is a cannot day.

The pain never goes... as I am sure you know the feeling when you lose someone with whom you realise suddenly that you were very close to when you were at an important moment of growing up.

But you learn to live with it... then you realise that you haven't thought about her for the last few hours..... then a few days... then a whole week passes.

As I mentioned, sometimes in life things are best left the way they were.... I am a fervent believer it is part of the greater plan of things......

That last meeting we had nearly a year before in 2005 had been quite revealing to both of us.... and very moving in an emotional way. We were both amazed and also sorry to have lost contact for so long.... but that did not diminish our friendship or our respect for each other as very young professional actors all those years before.

I cannot hide it.... but neither of us was very fond of the other off screen... just mutual professional regard for the other.... no one believed us of course. We were always playing pranks on each other.... till it got out of hand. But that's for the book... that I hope may get published. ... But I am not holding my breath. As my dear Indian friend has taught me.... She says "If it is written in the sands of time..... then it will happen...... But the winds of time will one day erode even the faintest of memories of it's passing. But the heavens shall know it forever"..

Please don't be offended... But I left the acting life I once knew behind me so many years ago now.... This is a different chapter in my life..... like all of us.... we all have many chapters and at the very least one good story in us all. I am certainly blessed with so many wonderful memories... and that is where I would like to keep them. I learnt that to walk away from that wonderful magical life... was probably the best thing for me at that time. I still have no regrets ... in fact I still believe that I am the luckiest guy I know ! These days I work late shifts.... and I blend quietly into the background..... but the same message of love is still passed out through me.. maybe to a lot fewer people in one go these days... :) a far cry from that other Sean. But that's the only difference.

I shall write to Paramount Japan to see if they have any plans to clean up P&M VHS copy and to release it on DVD... But I doubt it.... I have very little influence over such matters.... But you never know till you try.

Keep the ideas flowing...... and may you both continue to love and give support to each other.... it's all way too short.

Love, light and magic.

Sean Bury.

"Paul and Michelle" begins three years after the title characters ended the story of "Friends." Although it is not as good as the original, the film comes together very well. In "Friends," a teen romantic classic, the British Paul and French Michelle ran away and lived together in a secluded romantic dream. In "Paul and Michelle," the couple must face the hardships and boredom of everyday life. They soon learn the responsibility of working for a living and bringing up the child they had in "Friends."

In the beginning, Michelle and daughter Sylvie, who was born in "Friends," are living with Gary, a young American businessman in a French coastal town. The three have an almost normal family life in which Sylvie has bonded with Gary.

Paul, now a college student, abandons academic life to search for Michelle. When he arrives in town, there is a very funny sequence when Paul keeps searching every street and shop for Michelle, and just keeps missing her every time. At last the two literally bump into each other on the street and embrace in a joyful reunion. The very gracious Gary, always knowing that Paul is the true love of Michelle's life, leaves to let Paul move into the apartment.

The main plot of the story is Paul and Michelle's brutal discovery that it is tough to make their romantic love work in the everyday world. Having been raised with wealth, Paul finds the life of a working man difficult as he takes a job as a meatcutter to support his family. Paul and Michelle work jobs in different shifts and take turns watching Sylvie. Their jobs tire them out and raising an active three-year old wears the romance very thin. Paul finds it very hard to bond with his long-lost daughter. Even though she calls him "Daddy," it is a long time until she loves him as much as she loved Gary. The director highlights these realities by inserting a number of flashbacks of "Friends" to contrast with their new life.

Paul misses his exciting student life. There is one anachronistic scene where Paul participates in a poor excuse for a 1960's style student riot that is broken up by the police. In a much more dramatic incident, Paul goes out to a bistro with a young woman friend, leaving Sylvie alone in the apartment. As you might guess, it isn't long before the active tyke gets out. When Michelle returns from work to find her daughter gone, and sees Paul outside with this woman, she nearly panics. Paul and Michelle have to chase all over town to rescue their daughter. Michelle is quite angry.

I can relate to this story more today than I did in 1974, now that I'm older, married with children, and have been working for a living for many years. "Paul and Michelle" is not the dreamy classic you saw in "Friends," but the movie will entertain you as it portrays the strains of growing up and trying to keep romance alive in the real world.

I finally saw Paul & Michelle this weekend. A little Googling revealed that it can be found in streaming form. I had been looking for it since I saw 'Friends' around a decade ago. I searched that one out mainly because of the Elton John soundtrack. The song 'Friends' is actually an Elton & Bernie classic that has somehow slipped under the radar. Part of the reason probably being that the Friends album went out of print and it took a couple decades for it to finally make it on an official digital release (Rare Masters, 1992). All that aside, I watched 'Friends' and enjoyed the Elton music and of course the beauty of the Michelle character. It is very obvious that Anicée got the role on her looks alone. Her acting is pretty terrible but there is a sweetness to it, so we can cut her some slack. The 1970s were obviously a different time. In 2019 we certainly have controversial movies but members of the busybody community now totally overreact to coming-of-age films. But in 'Paul & Michelle' the characters are three years older and the taboo feel of the first film disappears. Anicée is still a lousy actress but she is featured nude multiple times, which will please those who appreciate such things. The story is unremarkable and rather cliche, but it does work. It has a genuine feel to it and it has heart, although there are corny moments that will make you laugh.

I do wonder if there were plans to make a sequel to this sequel. Three years later would have been 1977 and we could see Paul & Michelle getting into the disco scene. Or maybe they could have waited a decade and the new film could feature a 13-year-old Sylvie who is now discovering her own sexuality. The parents, who might now live in the States, would be completely freaking out in the "family values" Reagan-era. "Paul, whatever will we do with the precocious Sylvie?!" Sadly, Anicée has long since passed, and all we can do now is speculate as to what could have been.