Hello Goodbye

A nice comedy. not the best, not the most convincing but interesting for the good intention to explore the couple relations, a new life and its premises, clash between civilisations and different sources of humor. the risk to see it only as a film with Fanny Ardant and Gerard Depardieu is not small. but it has the virtue to be part of a long French cinema tradition about meet with different spaces, temptations for a couple, need to save appearences and a trip defining the marriage. so, a nice film. maybe, in part, for the good intentions.

A lightweight comedy whose humor depends largely on the inadequacies of a non-observant French Jewish doctor who emigrates with his converted wife to Israel. The first half is the one that draws the most laughs (mostly just chuckles), while the second half concentrates on developing the story of a husband and wife relationship that is breaking apart. There is a genuinely humorous gag near the beginning but otherwise the farcical elements of the story are only mildly funny.

Not surprisingly, a comedy such as this is built on a long string of contrivances that ends up taking a toll on one's patience. One hour into, I could not help but feel a bit exasperated with the story. It's the kind of film that is made for TV audiences.

I can't understand why this movie is only rated 5.1 here. It's a great movie. I saw it because I am a big fan of Depardieu, and I'm very glad I watched it. He's paired with a top-notch French actress, their third movie together. In the film they have a successful marriage, and on screen they are great together, great chemistry, with all the ups and downs of a marriage that has lasted 25 years. He's a successful, contented gynecologist; she's apparently never worked, "only" raised a son, who's getting married. She wants a life change, that's the major impetus for the movie. As anyone can read in the description, eventually they immigrate to Israel. Of course they are Jewish, and that plays a sizable role in the movie.

The script is quite good, quite realistic, though some of what happens from the time they enter Israel to live there seemed a bit overdone. For example, I wonder if Israel really has so many gynecologists, or this was just the writer using artistic license.

There are some great actors in this movie in addition to the leads. I like French, so I didn't mind that so many (I assume) French actors were hired for the scenes filmed in Israel.

This movie has a lot of "extras," and by extra I mean scenes and short moments where we see actors whom we see only once, and only for a short time. These "vignettes" generally don't add to the story line, they are there for effect - in a movie like this usually for comedic effect. They can add or subtract from the entertainment value of the movie. As well they can give us a break from concentrating on the (main) story. Having said all of this and maybe having rambled a bit, let me say that the "extras" in this movie are great. The many actors all do a very good job, and the movie was more enjoyable to me.

Finally, the extra on the dvd is exclusively an interview with the lead actress. I found it very interesting and informative.

My take on this film is that it is a very funny tongue-in-cheek farce that also asks some serious questions about identity. Finding humor in both those Jews who obsess over Jewish identity and those that are coverts to Judaism who also obsess over Judaism, I laughed continually through the film's first half. As you would hope w/ pros Ardant and Depardieu, the acting is spot on.Very believable until things start to go over the top soon after they reach Israel. It slows down after that and rambles quite a bit, and the ending is a cop-out,but I am very grateful for the laughs. Actually if one looks seriously at the film, it addresses some very valid questions about the role of religion,race, nationality and community in one's identity, particularly as one grows older.

I always like the move of Gérard Depardieu who is really a good actor. He is always sincere in his movie, that's the reason it moves me. No matter he acts a bad man or good man. Gérard Depardieu plays well the part of Alana Gaash as a middle-age man who shows great tolerance for his wife and even the couple love life. The thing I didn't think of is the environment of Isreal which shall not be that bad in my imagine. It shall be more beautiful. And both the actor and actress act like normal people which gives no "show" factors. All in all, I like it.