Ne quittez pas!

It is now January 2006 and I am wondering why this wonderful film has still not yet been released in the United States? It is hard to imagine that such a sincere, thought-provoking, funny, and touching film, which certainly left a mark upon my life and many others, is not released world wide! Il faut que tout le monde voie ce film!

I loved this film for some time now, and I am so eager to share it with others. However, one can only import the DVD from France, and it does not come equipped yet with English subtitles. So, needless to say, it is difficult to share it with an English native-speaking audience(!) It is so hard to imagine that in such a multi-cultural world that we live in today, this special film is not yet available for a mass audience (not only in America, but in other parts of Europe too). Wake up production companies world-wide! This special film deserves to be shown in many other countries. It is so puzzling why it has not been given the chance already. Luckily for us Americans, though, this film is now making its tour throughout the Unites States via special screenings at local film festivals. One can only hope that a production company in the states will pick it up! And then... tout le monde can see "Ne Quittez Pas!".

Arthur Joffé, a well known photographer, documentaries' film maker and director explores one of the most intriguing and unresolved sentiments of human being: love and identity, in a ironic but yet thoughtful manner where the action performs in an actual scenario, finds its roots in the past and then unites the two time spans in harmony.

The situation develops in an everyday circumstance and investigates not only the father-son relationship but also the nature of love, through a travel in history, both public and personal, allowing us to ask ourselves the perennial question of who we are.

What is most interesting in the film is the nature this relationship develops. The calls to the "beyond" are just an alibi, or yet a play of the imagination, a way to translate a form of "communication", with Jewish humor, into nowadays times. The anxiety of the search, the necessity of the search of the father's coat till the point to face diverse adversities that the main personage, interpreted by a greatly-expressive Sergio Castellito, encounters along the path only accentuates the Freudian sense of a hidden culpability towards the father.

The end constitutes a natural cycle where the son finally finds out and understands the reason of the importance of the coat. The end constitutes the moment where the son re-finds the father, recognizes and accepts his past and can look forwards to his future.

It is an articulate comedy in both a classical and modern sense. It develops like a tragedy, without losing its humor, and ends up with a poetic conclusion that makes us smile and think that yes, there's a sense behind our lives, a past, a story and an identity.

Ne quittez pas! is a comedy and a tale about a man (Excellent Sergio castellitto) talking over the phone to his dead father. The father (Michel Serrault's voice) wants his black coat back (the one he had during world war 2, under french antis-emit government) The film is fresh and funny specially when one learn those phones calls cost a fortune to the son. Those phone calls are so expensive that he soon will be broke and homeless. The end of the movie his incredibly daring, when we learn what this black coat story was about, specially when we consider the antisemitic resurgence in France. this film is an act of courage, and has to be seen all over the world.

The French cinematic "authority" are supposed to know good Cinema, aren't they? Yes, they appreciate all the Hollywood American films; they stand in awe of their fantasy and imagination. But my question/concern is: Why don't the French appreciate this same imagination and uniqueness within THEIR OWN filmmakers? Arthur Joffé is a French director/writer who is a fantastic and incredible storyteller, and yet it is so very unfortunate that he doesn't get the recognition that he so rightly deserves! Please Please please do yourself a favor, go rent "Que La Lumiere Soit" (Let There Be Light), "Ne Quittez Pas" (Local Call) or "Alberto Express" to have the pleasure of viewing the work of one of France's true hidden treasures: the fantastic Arthur Joffé.

This is a film with great heart.

It is witty, warm, surprising, courageous - an impeccably crafted comedy enriched by moments of high drama, deep poignancy, tender romance, and deft revelation.

The premise is simple: Felix Mandel, a sentimental, well-meaning dreamer, donates his deceased father's old overcoat to a homeless derelict, only to find himself haunted - and taunted - by collect calls from Heaven, as Papa demands, "Get back that coat!"

Father and son are soon bickering, relishing this fresh opportunity to rehash old issues. As their exchanges become more tempestuous, the long-distance phone bills grow more exorbitant and Felix's predicaments more desperate. But the drollery takes some unexpected turns, and we are led delicately into the deeper implications of this situation.

Adroitly directed by Arthur Joffe and vividly enacted by a superb cast featuring a mesmerizing, multi-hued performance from Sergio Castellito, this seemingly simple comedy embraces the complexities of our deepest human longings for connection, reconciliation, redemption, love.

It offers not only charm but nobility, grace. hope...and lots of laughs!