Que la lumière soit

This film should finally be released in America. In fact, there should be an American remake, yes! It is such a charming, hopeful, witty and entertaining film, for all ages. I am surprised it wasn't ever released in America(!) IT SHOULD BE! Sorry, but I just don't see the French market as appreciating and giving worthy respects to such a fantastic and imaginative film from a French Filmmaker of their own (they seem to only give recognition to American filmmakers in this respect). But trust an American viewer, if you want to see an uplifting film, without any violence or profanity, the kind of film that leaves you smiling on your way out of the cinema, go see "Que La Lumiere Soit", (Let There Be Light). I am sure they sell it on the internet. Remember, if you live in America, make sure you buy one of those Multi-Standard DVD Viewers, because if you don't have one already, you are unfortunately missing out on so many wonderful foreign films, like this one here by the Great Arthur Joffe.

This movie has an interesting premise, some good visuals, and a very nicely rendered message at the end; however, getting to this end was not a pleasant trip. In this film, getting from point A to point D sometimes entirely skipped points B and C. Nothing in it is too jarring, but overall I thought it could have been much better. Characters drift in and out of the picture with so much aimlessness that's it's very difficult to feel anything for them, which is at odds with the film's premise. On a side note, I felt the identity of the French studio chief was (unintentionally) very ironic.

It was at a screening some 7 years ago in Fort Lauderdale, FL... when I quite surprisingly found myself stuck to my seat with tears streaming down my face... Why?... I had just viewed "Let There Be Light", a delightful film about God's attempt to have his recently finished script filmed here on earth... This film has remained in my memory... and I remain...still enchanted... after all these years!! The story of "Let There Be Light" unveils with a fabulous mix of humor, tenderness and zeal.... I was quite unexpectedly and quite simply "swept away"... and since then have been asking myself why this gem has not become a classic... The entire package which is "Let There Be Light" is as captivating and its cast of characters as entertaining and enthralling as those in the film, "King of Hearts",... perhaps one of the quintessential cult classics here in the US.... I have searched the web and video stores in vain for a copy with English subtitles... as I would love to share this gem with others... As characters proclaimed in the film, "I have a script. I need a director"... As a viewer who believes that there is a potential audience, who would relish this film's release on DVD with English subtitles, I assert... "There is a film! We need a distributor!"

This film was just good fun, not-quite-two hours of entertaining suspension of disbelief--literally, since if one does not believe in God, or believes anything in particular about him, one has to forget that. Which is easy, because every little idea and character is worked out just enough to keep the viewer engaged: yes, the Hebrew typewriter (on which God is typing his screenplay--he is woefully underendowed with electronics and evidently doesn't even have cable, though there is a satellite in his neighborhood) goes to the right when God hits "return"; yes, God is a baby-ditchdigger-pigeon-garbage man; yes, some kind of wings will appear in the proximity of the angel René until he gets his "real" ones. The Burning Bush becomes a hot-dog roast, a woman who reads the newspaper tells God off for allowing the news to happen, the devil has his own rewrite department. There is some kind of dumb or clever joke, visual or verbal or both, every minute. Maybe every thirty seconds.

The movie God makes provokes the one long sequence with relatively few jokes: people watching a movie. It reminded me quite a bit--and was surely meant to--of the movie scene in Sullivan's Travels, with men at the lowest ebb of dignity laughing at Mickey Mouse. But this audience is not a chain gang; it is all the people of Paris, cushioned by a social safety net (at one point René says that if he gets fired as an angel he'll have to apply for unemployment; hospitals are evidently good places to die or go crazy; you need a permit to make a movie; the police always seem to be in place whether needed or not; the more dangerous bits of the Eiffel Tower are roped off). Perhaps if there is a message it is that a society is better at providing safety nets than God, but that he survives because our imaginations need him (or, in the movie, vice versa).

Ah, if only all films came from France. If only all women were as beautiful as Hélène de Fougerolles. What a wonderful world this would be, non? I would be totally lost without French cinema. Their drama's are raw, intelligent and rip emotions from inside, throw them in your face and say "There!! - SEE! LIVE!! FEEL!!!" Thrillers are innovative, experimental and imaginative and their comedies are witty and chaotic, and.....well, just bloody good fun! Que la lumière soit is a sublime comedy, textured with arresting characters and some wonderfully farcical scenes, inter-laced with truly poignant moments. See this film. It is well cast, well paced and should have you roaring with laughter. Amen.