Vivre pour vivre

Vivre pour vivre is a great movie. Under the direction of Claude Lelouche, Yves Montand was at his best. The music of Francis Lai, music writer of "Un homme et une femme", "Love Story" among other famous movies wrote a music melody for each of the main actors of the movie. The moments of silences when accompanied by the photography and the music tell more than what words can describe. In the background of a love story is a frame of a war. The atrocities and the protests against the war in Vietnam are evident. Unfortunately we do not see this movie on the TV screens in the USA.

Yves Montand is a documentary film maker married to Annie Giradot. He cheats on her. He begins an affair with American model Candice Bergen and takes her along on a shoot in the Uganda and crosses the border to interview the men at a training camp for mercenaries. When they return to Paris, she wants him to tell Mlle Giradot, but he says he needs time to disengage.

Claude Lelouch's follow-up to A MAN AND A WOMAN is about the ability of love to survive when one of the partners is in a job at once exciting and frustrating, and whether it is love at all. Lelouch alternates between his principals engaging with each other -- although Montand gives a performance in which he seems to be acting all the time -- and montages: war footage, African wildlife, the aftermath of a battle in Viet Nam,Montand and Giradot after their breakup, with Lelouch's longtime collaborator Francis Lai doing the score.

Mlle Giradot offers a fine performance, as does Montand. Miss Bergen is not so engaging, although that may be a deliberate choice.

Robert Colomb has two full-time jobs. He's known throughout the world as a globetrotting TV reporter. Less well-known but equally effortful are his exploits as a full-time philanderer.

I saw `Vivre pour Vivre' dubbed in English with the title 'Live for Life.' Some life! Robert seems to always have at least three women in his life: one mistress on her way out, one on her way in, and the cheated wife at home. It helps that Robert is a glib liar. Among his most useful lies are `I'll call you tomorrow' and `My work took longer than planned.' He spends a lot of time and money on planes, trains and hotel rooms for his succession of liaisons. You wonder when this guy will get caught with his pants down.

Some may find his life exciting, but I thought it to be tedious. His companions, including his wife, Catherine, are all attractive and desirable women. But his lifestyle is so hectic and he is so deceitful, you wonder if he's enjoying all this.

Adding to the tedium is considerable footage that doesn't further the plot. There are extended sections with no dialogue or French-only dialogue. We see documentaries of wars, torture, and troop training interspersed with the live action. When Robert's flight returns from Africa, we wait and wait for the plane to land and taxi to the airport terminal.

Annie Girardot is the standout performer in this film. Hers was the most interesting character and she played it to perfection. It was also nice to see Candice Bergen at the beginning of her career. I can't find fault with Yves Montand's performance of what was basically an amoral bum.

I enjoyed some of Claude Lelouch's novel techniques. In a hotel room scene, the camera pans around the room as Robert and his mistress argue. We catch sight of them briefly during each pass around the room. In another scene set on a sleeping car of a train, Robert is lying on the upper bunk while his wife is on the lower. Robert is giving his wife some important but distressing news, but we hear only parts of it because of the clatter of the train. I sensed that his wife was also unable to absorb every word due to the shocking nature of the news. I also liked the exciting safari scenes in Africa. The cinematography of those scenes and of those in Amsterdam was superb.

I reviewed this movie as part of a project at the Library of Congress. I've named the project FIFTY: 50 Notable Films Forgotten Within 50 Years. As best I can determine, this film, like the other forty-nine I've identified, has not been on video, telecast, or distributed in the U.S. since its original release. In my opinion, it is worthy of being made available again.

I saw the movie when it was theatrically released in 1967.I enjoyed it a lot.But when I saw it again on the telly a few years back,I asked myself:"How could I have come to like that?" I could say the same of all the Lelouch I saw when I was young.Those movies have become dated ,politically correct (with the exception of "la vie l'amour la mort" but it was Lelouch dutifully stepping into the shoes of André Cayatte),sometimes entertaining (le voyou:1970;la bonne année :1974),often so overlooong and pretentious they are almost unbearable (toute une vie:1974;les uns et les autres:1981).

"Vivre pour vivre" is still watchable,at a pinch ,for the actors (the best of the three leads is arguably Annie Girardot).The historical context (the Vietnam war) adds nothing to the psychological plot and dates the movie.

Yves Montand is a reporter who used to travel to in-war places during the 60s. Due to long periods of home absence without his wife he usually had other love stories. In this routine he met (Candice) Candice Bergen whom he fell in love immediately. His wife (Annie Girardot) finally perceived the way he ignored and lied her. All this compelled her to live her own life and finally leaving his husband alone. There is a Spanish proverb: `One never knows what one has until it is lost' and this is the end of the reporter.