Simone Veil - La donna del secolo

Saw this at the Film Festival in Angoulême and was absolutely shocked by how Jewish suffering during the WW2 was portrayed. The actresses didn't act; they were dolls with too much make-up on and too good of a hairstyle to provoke any sympathy. The structure of the film is pretentious and doesn't work at all. One scene we're seeing images of men in camps in war torn Bosnia, and next scene we're sitting under a moonlit sky in the Mediterranean enjoying a romantic talk. How is this possible? Camera work is ugly; too much steady cam, too many close ups. And don't get me started on the music! Was there even one second when the spectator can catch a breath from the never ending score? No. This director should be banned from making films for life.

This movie manages to captivate me for two and a half hours. Touching from the first to the last minute. I knew nothing about Simone Veil, now I adore her. The staging and acting are unique, the decidedly unconventional script is courageous in its dramaturgy and - contrary to what many here in the reviews think - I think it works quite well with all its time jumps. The history of Judaism in the 20th century and also the history of democracy and the importance of the European Union are reflected through a very personal point of view. Although I have seen a lot of movies on the subject, I learned a lot. An unconditional recommendation!

What an incredible woman, I remember her as a soft spoken woman but with a determination,a force of character, an humanist so much at the opposite of the Donald, the movie was so well realized that the many flashbacks are not to much, the movie start with her remembering her childhood, then her teen, and so on, but also the great moments of her political career, the flashback are used to give us some clues of the sources of stenght of character. The last few phrases that she wrote in the movie are still so a propos with the rise of the narcissistic trumpians in the world, we are so quick to reject the humanity of the Others.

It is always hard to make a movie about someone who as done so much for humanity in every aspect, putting this in 2h20 is a real challenge. The movie is not perfect there is alot that could have been better, but it is still worth watching. There are some really beautiful parts of it too.

It is a carousel of emotions and history.

Knowing the history of Veil which is an endless inspiration, this movie showed some very beautiful and unique moments of her life. It was a mix of hope and melancholy, yet sometimes a little too overplayed and staged.

The movie was showing someone so strong and intellectual in her most vulnerable moments.

The camera also very intense at moments and the focus on the lighting not so bad either.

I came to this movie knowing a lot about Veil. My girlfriend knew almost nothing. We both teared up and learned a lot in these two hours.

This dive deep into the fight of her life and for her life was an emotional Experience. The distribution and the actors were amazing. The music, the filmography were splendid and gave life to this biopic.

Other comments seemed to find the timelines confusing, jumping from her future to her past. Instead, I found it very well done and useful to the story. Instead of watching her life unraveling, you get to understand what she fought for before understanding why she did.

I recommended this movie to all my friends and family, and their outstanding reception is a tribute to this journey of the century.