Les amants du Flore

I must begin by saying that although I live in Israel, I am born in Paris, France and I got my first degree from the University of Paris. French literature and philosophy, French or otherwise, were part of our curriculum for the Baccalaureat. So, the background presented in the movie is quite authentic, and the Flore is the famous cafe on the Montparnasse Boulevard, where this Circle would meet. As far as I know the Cafe still exists but was more a place of meeting for the gay's community. Just like the Coupole, they have lost some of the lustre, which I remember from my youth when I used to go there with my late parents on Sundays afternoon...

I just saw the film and I must say that Laurant Deutsch looks exactly like Sartre, same looks, same glasses, and same pipe. Simone de Beauvoir was less known to me but I did read her first novel "L'Invite" – the Guest, which is mentioned in the movie. I seem to remember that there were talks about them, but every one seemed to know about it like the fact that they never married and that she never had children. Sartre died in 1980 and Simone in 1984, they are buried in the famous Pere Lachaise Cemetery, together with Balzac, Chopin, Proust (and even Jim Morrison from The Doors), and all the others.

We see Albert Camus, Francois Mauriac, we hear about Andre Malraux, Aragon etc. Some of them were fanatic communists like Aragon and his friend / wife Elsa, and others. The impact of WWII on all involved, on the life in France, in Paris, is quite well described as well as the rather uninvolvement of Sartre to help one member, who was a Jew, and shot by Nazis in the street – which was a much better end than the camps. So I do think he was a bit of a racist, he used Simone, and she, out of devotion and knowing how much he depended on her and knowing also what a genius he was, she gave up on her own happiness for him. The episode about the Chicago guy was news to me. But many details on this whole set have been new to me.

The actors play very convincingly some parts, which are pretty tough, Deutsch is great, and so is Anna Mouglalis, and the other members of the cast are quite good. The movie script is well researched and fits properly the personages and the period; on the whole it is quite enjoyable, apart from the nude scenes, which I think are unneeded. A good movie for those, who like this genre.

I must say that it is kind of refreshing to see Nelson Algren called "the Chicago guy". All in all, the story is well known, but still so sad. The idea that male self-proclaimed geniuses could convince women of Simone de Beauvoir's intellect to do practically anything; the undeniable fact that celebrity status is enough to evoke sexual attraction… it is very difficult to feel optimism about the fate of women now as then. Yes, freedom begins with one's own wallet, and could do with a room of one's own, but captivity can surpass all this.

It does not help that the movie is rather on an easy, not to say on a kitschy side. Its competitor, Claude Goretta's mini series "Sartre, l'âge des passions" (2006) cannot change the sadness of the story, but at least can tell it in a much more realistic, convincing, and complex way.