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I cannot agree more with the 2 already existing reviews, this documentary had everything to become a classic, one to use to educate the future generations :

• a fascinating period of history
• a lot of research into facts & quotes
• unbelievable recoloured archives of extreme quality and powerful images we've never seen before

Why they thought it necessary to go back and forth in time is beyond me !

I still give it a 7 because I was fascinated by the images and the facts, but with a simple chronological narration, that would have been a straight 10.

First things first : Jacques Brel (aka le grand Jacques) is the greatest out there, and seeing him in concert at the theater is an extraordinary experience for someone who hasn't had the chance to live at the right time to do it for real.

So all in all, my night in the cinema watching this was very emotional and I'm extremely happy to have been there for this re-edit.

However the work behind this movie is, at best, mediocre. Almost no post-prod, just one line comments in WordPad fonts such as "3 years later..." linking the two concerts shown. Even though some parts are edited or cut, they are definitely not the right ones, since there are no less than FIVE songs coming up twice in this 90mn film !!! Fortunately, Jacques never had the same stageshow, but still, it's not like we didn't have enough fantastic footage from him to be able to compensate with other songs ? There's not even "Ne me quitte pas" which is arguably his most famous song and makes up the movie's title !!

If you love Jacques, you'll still have a great time. If you're an alien and have never seen him, watch all you can find on YouTube. But this "work" 40 years after his death doesn't deserve praise...

I discovered recently the "Grand Détournement" series: small scenes of movies, assembled in an absurdly hilarious patchwork and dubbed by French actors.

Being quite fond of absurd humor (I especially love seeing serious movie stars say something completely out of bounds with what was said in the original movie...), I knew I was a potential target for these shows...

However, having now seen all 3 of them (I think there were only 3), I must say that "La classe américaine" is not my favorite and this by a long way! Had I discovered it first, I would surely have rated it much higher, it sure does have its funny moments, but it is a bit too long for what it gives us... Since there is clearly no plot, you keep expecting jokes for 80 minutes and it does not always succeed to keep your attention alive...

I feel compelled to tell you to watch "ça détourne" aka "Le triomphe de Bali-Balo ou la splendeur de la honte" instead... It lasts only 45 minutes, but of pure condensed fun without a single time-out. Seeing Steve Mc Queen as a "serial joker" is quite unique and leaves "La classe américaine" a bit behind. The third one "Derrick vs Superman" is the poorest of the series, fortunately, it lasts only 15 minutes and has a few good moments...