Um Olhar Para a Vida

Although my memory is somewhat hazy (I saw this movie 17 years ago.), the concept of being stuck in a rut caught my attention. When the heroine takes her vacation, it is not just from work but from her personal life as well. I remember thinking about how her self-assessment would not have been as effective had she maintained her personal contacts during that time.

For me, Bertrand Tavernier is the greatest French cinema director of the last 30 years. His films always have that real great sense of reality. It's also got creativity and intelligence. As I was watching fragile Nathalie Baye in this film, I was thinking what Hollywood would have done with that kind of story. The teacher will have face adversity and

realise that her duty is to carry on, even if she's not made for this work. It will have violons and tears. Here, Nathalie Baye said no to all that, and we are very happy for her. For 1 hours 45 minutes, Tavernier makes us know the deep feelings of that woman. The logic says she will quit. And so she does and we're happy. Watch good work from veteran comic Michel Galabru, in a serious part.

Today, I'm not an "expert" of the work of Mr. Bertrand Tavernier. But this movie gave me a great desire to be more interested in his work.

It's a very good film about the questions, doubts, fears, anxieties that adults can feel socially and in particular through the role of Miss Laurence Cuers (Nathalie Baye), young teachers. Besides this social and depressive anxiety feeling that emerges, the film criticizes the French National Education, which thirty years later, has the same fundamental flaws by the national education process itself and even the general contemporary cultural environment, which on this point, if I allow myself, get worse.

A beautiful story and a great accomplishment captivate us throughout the film, helped by a distribution well served by Nathalie Baye and Gerard Lanvin and energized by Michel Galabru and Philippe Noiret. And the action take place in Lyon (France) is often nice to see another town than Paris in the French cinema.

A good film very interesting and rewarding.

jelios

jelios@hotmail.fr

I have my own take on this masterpiece by the great Bertrand Tavernier and that is to listen; to listen to others and to oneself. Talk to others, but listen to others. Laurence played by Nathalie Baye ( who is one of France's finest actors ) is a schoolteacher and she is having a breakdown. She either has to stay in her profession, stay with her lover who adores her or move on. Is moving on the answer or staying still ? By talking to others she spends her time out from school and tries to make a decision. She listens to the problems of those around her and she is a child again in the classroom of life, and painfully and slowly she learns what a sublime horror it is to be human. This film is a masterpiece because it explores both on a personal level and on a societal level. We all have problems of ageing, loving and eventually dying in a world that seems to make of us just a number. A song of the day, about being just a number plays more than once and Tavernier shows with intelligent persuasion that a pop song and a bad television programme can also help us understand life and to live. There is a wonderful kick at Opera in the film that had me cheering. Most need the smallest and most popular things to survive. That includes dialogue, which the film is full of and through dialogue with others we just may be strong enough to continue, to cohabit with an unjust world and to grow into just being ourselves. The scenario is full of working people, and not the luxury class of those who can afford not to care or who just feed off others without giving. A lot of cinema depicts these people but in this film they are not there. True life is richer than the laziness and opportunism of the rich. I am astonished this film has only 4 reviews. People not wanting to listen perhaps ? Forty years on and in desperate times this film has perhaps greater relevance than in 1980 and a big thank you for Tavernier, Baye and all of the other actors for making this essential film what it is. It maybe ' old ' to some, but looks as fresh to me as its first outing in the cinema.

The French film Une semaine de vacances (1980) was shown in the U. S. with the title A Week's Vacation. It was co-written and directed by Bernard Tavernier.

The movie stars Nathalie Baye as Laurence, a high school teacher in Lyon. She's a good teacher, but she isn't happy at school. She's not happy about her boy friend. In fact, she's not happy about much in her life, although people think she should be happy.

My problem with the movie is that it's hard to like the protagonist. People ask her if she's going to keep teaching. People ask her what she would do if she stopped teaching. People ask her if she will marry her boy friend. People ask her if she wants to have children. Her answer to each of these questions is, "I don't know."

Bernard Tavernier was a great director. Nathalie Baye is a great actor. It's no surprise that the direction and acting were fine. However, I didn't appreciate the plot or identify with the protagonist.

Bernard Tavernier died on March 25th, 2021, just a few days before I wrote this review. He directed many great films, which I recommend. However, I consider this one of his lesser films.

I think that this movie is worth watching, but it's not a must-see. It has a weak IMDb rating of 6.7. I agreed, and rated it 7.