Lelouch doesn't do bijou or minimal, even what was essentially an intimate love story, Un Homme et une femme was played out against a broad canvas of movie making and Formula 1 racing. If nothing else one has to admire not only the ambition but also the logistics involved in Les Uns et l'autres, a tapestry that weaves together three generations of four disparate families linked initially by World War II and secondly by equally disparate music encompassing ballet, classical and pop. Though the stories themselves are often ordinary to the point of banality we are never very far from spectacle in one form or another and from a motley group of fine actors I would single out Nicole Garcia's Jewish violinist whose husband perishes in the camps with honorable mention to that husband, Robert Hossein, plus Jacques Villeret and James Caan whilst Fanny Ardant was barely on screen long enough for her performance to be assessed. An exceptional film.
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writers_reign13 May 2007
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ivansandick20 July 2001This effort of the French cinema-world to look beyond its own borders has been quite succesful in that the story covers three continents and breathes different cultures and different times, using very different musical genres. Though some storylines end in nothing (in a typically French way), there are enough plots to build up to a climax which Ravel could not have surpassed. In the final scene some people sit together and make music music together and only we know how closely related they are. The eyes (and arms!) of the conductor of a German army-band on Place de l' Etoile when two Parisian hookers smile at him, is unforgettable.
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claudio_carvalho12 December 2004Along three generations, the lives of different families in Russia, France, Germany and United States of America, all of them connected to music and dance, are affected by the World War II. In Russia, the Bolshoi ballerina Tatiana Itovitch (Rita Poelvoorde) loses her husband, the musician Boris Itovitch (Jorge Donn), in the Russian front. She raises alone their son, the professional dancer Sergei (Jorge Donn), who escapes from Soviet Union and coming to have a daughter, the also ballerina Tania. In France, the Jewish violinist Anne Meyer (Nicole Garcia) marries the pianist Simon Meyer (Robert Hossein), and both are sent to a concentration camp, where Simon dies. On the train travel to the camp, Simon leaves their baby son on the trails and he is raised by a priest, becoming the lawyer Robert Prat (Robert Hossein), who has a professional singer son. Also in France, in Paris after the war, the singer Evelyne (Evelyne Bouix) is accused of sleeping with the enemy, and moves to Dijon, where she has a daughter, Edith (Evelyne Bouix). In Germany, the pianist and conductor Karl Kremer (Daniel Olbrychski) leaves his wife Magda Kremer (Macha Méril) and their son to fight in the war. In USA, the famous pop singer Jack Glenn (James Caan) leaves his wife Suzan Glenn (Geraldine Chaplin) to join the army and entertain the troops in London. Their gay son Jason Glenn (James Caan) and daughter, the singer Sara Glenn (Geraldine Chaplin) become important persons in the show business. Their lives are entwined in a Red Cross presentation of the Ravel's Bolero in Paris.
"Les Uns et les Autres" is the masterpiece of Claude Lelouch and is one of my favorite movies ever. First time I saw it I was amazed with such a magnificent story. The direction, the story, the cast, the soundtrack, the location, everything works perfectly in this overwhelming film. The long scenes are fantastically well filmed and Claude Lelouch was certainly inspired when he made this wonder. Only a couple of months ago, this DVD was released in Brazil by the Brazilian distributor "Classicline" and yesterday I saw it again, for my delight after twenty and something years. The unknown Sharon Stone has a minor uncredited participation in the end of the movie, watching the show on TV in bed with Jack Glenn. "Les Uns et les Autres" is a highly recommended movie, for lovers of arts and cinema. My vote is ten.
Title (Brazil): "Retratos da Vida" ("Pictures of the Life")
Note: On 10 February 2014, I saw this wonderful movie again. -
Well, I'm obviously not alone in saying this is the best, the greatest, the finest movie, etc. So what's with the rating? Again, as in many cases of movies with few votes, a small group skews the score to a ridiculous level. I saw this masterpiece in Paris when it came out in the early 1980's, and went back to see it the nest day. It was too much exquisite detail to take in during one sole session. The development of the characters, interwoven into the fabric of tragedy that was the war, the haunting Bolero by Ravel. Devastingly beautiful touching, and grand. Since this film, Lelouche (A MAN AND A WOMAN, LES MISERABLES (1994) has made a few films touching on his autobiographical experiences as a young Jew, during the Holocaust. This movie was made before there were dozens of them to compare to, like Lelouche's own perhaps just as good LES MIS... with Jean-Paul Belmondo. Having lived in France, I know there are many cinephiles who just outright hate Lelouche. These feelings, as I have experienced them, are thinly-veiled anti-semitic feelings. Say, it may be an "artsy" way of saying I'm an anti-semite: J'aime pas Lelouche. I think this is why this movie is undeservedly ranked so low in this base. I came across, and voted on it a while back, precisely because the rating shocked me so. As I went through the comments though today, I was happy to see I was not alone, and thought I would throw my "ten francs worth" in. I want to buy it for my collection.
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tj-moore9 May 2005I am a professional musician. This film, in VHS, was presented to me by friends after my comments on the music I listened to on a cassette tape. I do not know how they did it as we were living in Southern Mexico at the time. I thank them profusely. All the music and, that dance at the end, is just simply outstanding. I do not know how any music lover could ever lessen a 10+ rating. I hope to find it on DVD someday. My two VHS tapes are good but what a blast it would be on DVD. The cast includes some great actors who seem to actually perform their musical parts. I get emotional with the story line, particularly the return of James Cahn to his Sarah. I recommend this to all.
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dbdumonteil28 February 2007First thing to bear in mind is that like Hossein's "les Miserables" or Enrico's "Au Nom de Tous les Miens",the movie which was theatrically released is a digest of a miniseries ,the running time of which exceeded six hours.In three hours,there are too many characters ,and Lelouch uses the same thespians to portray the parents and the children (Chaplin,Caan,Bouix...)which sometimes is a mess.But it's Hossein who gets the biscuit:even "made look younger" ,he was 54 at the time and it's impossible to believe he is a soldier coming back from the Algeria war.
It can be looked upon as a musical ,but the only musical sequence which is really awesome is Ravel's bolero where the four (French,Russian,German and American) families prove us (as if we did not understand) that it's better making music than making war.Thank you and God bless you all.
That said ,there's that optimistic bourgeois side in Lelouch's movies;it's so glaring here that it becomes sometimes unbearable.With a few exceptions (Garcia's husband,the girl who used to play around with the Germans,victims of war),it's a success story.We deal with educated brilliant people whose career will take them to megastardom after the war.There's a French film made up of sketches called "Retour à la vie" which depicted the fates of four men and a woman after WW2.Their future was not so bright: the concentration camps ,it's not a thing you forget overnight.You are going to say,Nicole Garcia ends up in an insane asylum.Probably but long after the war.In "Retour à la vie" Aunt Anna was so weak and so traumatized she could not utter one word.
The cast is admittedly impressive.But if the leads were not played by celebrities such as James Caan,Geraldine Chaplin or Fanny Ardant,we would be lost in a terrible mess.Ansd sometimes I must confess I do not know if it's the father (mother) or the son (daughter).And Lelouch spared us the third generation (they are still brats).To think that the last part of "Toute une Vie" (1974) another extravaganza which spanned a century,the last part was pure sci-fi and took us down to the future world! Les uns will like.Les autres won't. -
taussig10029 June 2008I just watched this movie, and it took me 10 minutes to realize that I already saw it before (but never made it to the end). It's that forgettable. For starters, its interminable, almost 3 hours. It's a huge production, with a cast of a thousand, all famous French actors and with James Caan thrown in for good measure. There is an unending cast of poorly portrayed characters, new characters small and large popping up all the time. It's like watching a French telephone book made into a movie. Trying to keep it straight? Take a load of this, they all play two generations of themselves, sometimes at the same time (OK, the James Caan with the graying hair is the dad, and the one who looks not a year younger, with the red hair is the son. Why not give them all name tags?). If you want to see Fellini meets Busbee Berklee, if you like a comic book history lesson of WWII with nicely tanned and brightly colored scenes of Auschwitz for instance (I'm not kidding, and it's not a spoof either), and if a director who can't tell a story and covers up with gratuitous special effects and lavish song and dance numbers is your kind of guy, by all means watch this movie.
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talltale-110 December 2003Wow. I had seen a pared-down version of this amazing film when it was called BOLERO a decade or two back. Now that I have seen the uncut film, I'm in awe. As I grow older I seem to appreciate Claude Lelouch more and more. This one may be his masterpiece. Weaving together three generations and four families (German, French, American and Russian), the writer/director manages to run the gamut from wildly romantic to elegantly subdued (note the distanced reconciliation scene between mother and son late in the film) offering up whatever is called for at a given moment. Music is paramount to this movie--it is ever-present and holds the diverse threads together. The cast is amazing, too. What a coup. This is the kind of film I'll recommend to everyone, and now that it is out on DVD, movie lovers are all the luckier for it.
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I may not remember everything, but this film has been on my mind since I saw it 23 years ago. I was in high school in a small town in Iowa. One of our band directors had a large collection of film on tape and laser disc. He would have movie parties for kids he taught. I showed an interest in film and he would screen some films I would have otherwise never have seen. I remember watching Bolero. (I do not think I knew it was known by any other name) I was in absolute awe of this film. The music, the story, the pacing - everything you couldn't get from popular American films.
I have avoided seeing it again in the intervening time because I did not want my more grown up sensibilities to have a different opinion of the film. After reading some of the comments here I can feel safe to view it again. -
gdvibe25 December 2005I just watched Bolero for the umpteenth time and it gets better each time. The film works on so many levels--character complexity, theme, emotion--that it stands up to many viewings. Lelouch is a Romantic, but knows when to stop, in the French tradition. His use of silence to convey emotion, especially near the end when David finds his mother is extremely poignant.
Lelouch also gets incredible performances from his actors.
This film deals with identity, war, lost love, and redefining oneself. it is profound while being entertaining. A true work of art and one of the great films of all time. -
conrado-316 April 2006I was in Strasbourg, France in 1981 when this film first came out and saw it in a movie theater. It was a compelling film and spoken not only in French, but German, Russian and English, according to the character's language. I loved the story, the music (my favorite rendition of Bolero), the incredible dancing, the acting. I even acquired the soundtrack and a VHS of the movie after seeing it, even though I don't typically acquire copies of movies once I have seen them. This film is and will always be my favorite film of all time. I happened to be studying the subject of international human rights law in Strasbourg at the time, so it seemed fitting to see this movie about WWII and the humanitarian aspects of the finale of the film. Our world has become so interdependent that other directors should take note of this little-known film and its use of multiple languages to great effect.
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Just viewed this movie on a DVD from Netflix. This movie is what a motion picture can be in the hands of an intelligent and talented director.
The photography was wonderful, the use of color was spectacular, the sound was excellent, and the music and performances were top notch. I especially liked the full symphony orchestra segments and the American big band segments. The Folies-type musical numbers were also done with flair, and Geraldine Chaplin proved herself to be a classy cabaret singer (assuming her voice wasn't dubbed). Michel Legrand I believe was responsible for the music, which was first rate throughout.
All production values were of the highest order.
The final dance sequence, which lasted far longer than anything Hollywood would permit, was phenomenal; the late Jorge Donn was not Nureyev, but spectacular all the same. The robustness and uncompromisingly balletic style of the finale put the ballet sequences in a couple of American movies--American In Paris and Carousel-- in the shade.
Released in the U.S. as Bolero, apparently. Without car chases, explosions, etc., I doubt if it did very well at the box office over here. -
paaskynen7 February 2005I share with the other commentators the love of this amazing film, which has been on my 10-best-ever list since I first saw it. The director has done a wonderful job of keeping together the various story lines, that cross each other time and again in different places and times, with their own theme scores that evolve as time passes.
The main story in the film is of course the Second World War, which throws the stories of the four musical families together and mixes their fates.
Many characters in the film are loosely based on musical icons (Josephine Baker, Herbert von Karajan, Glen Miller, Edith Piaf, Rudolf Nureyev, etc.) and the many sub plots, such as in the band of friends returning from the Algerian war, make the film into a rich experience of lives and fates that may confuse some at first sight, but that makes the film interesting and involving even after repeated viewing. The Bolero dance sequence at the end, in which all threads come together, never ceases to blow me away. -
willie-144 April 1999I saw this film when it first came out in Paris. It was a great experience! An epic sweep, not unlike *Gone With the Wind* or *Children of Paradise*. But the American release, titled *Bolero*, had about 20-30 minutes cut from it and it was a disjointed mess. Small wonder it bombed here. The video release is of the American version. If at all possible, try to see the original, 3 hour release.
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One of the most poignant saga depicting the troubled times of the Second World War. Cenimatography, plot, acting, music and vocals elevate this movie to a masterpiece. I would note that Jackie Ward who lends her illuminating voice to Gelardine Chaplin should get much more credit. Ward belongs with Streisand or Dion, as their peer. Thank you for your performance of Dad & Co and Serenade for Sarah, the most amazing delivery for this two songs.
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erling-eliasson3 October 2012Stepping out of the cinema in Cannes one early evening in the summer of 1981 with the comment of a Frenchman: "C'est excellent!" I felt a genuine sympathy for that person. To me he looked to be in his 50/60es and he may not live anymore now more than 30 years after that night, however, he spoke exactly what I felt, and still feel after all these years. I was 25 then and very sensitive to colorful and sentimental stories; and here was one that had a storyboard of the classics and with the outline and looks of something very modern with a certain freshness - and lots of heart. I was immediately taken and still is. It lives in me inseparably with the memories of my youth. It may not be the greatest film ever made, it may even just be a second-rate piece of art. I really don't know. And I don't care. This is one of the best films I have seen. I hold as dear as books like Tolstoy's War And Peace, Thomas Mann's The House of Buddenbrook, music like the Tchaikovsky's symphonies and the songs of Serge Reggiani. It may be just a dream. It may not stand chance by a review. Still I would like to thank Mr. Lelouch and the whole cast for an unforgettable and magnificent experience. C'etait vraiment excellent!
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maryclare5328 May 2009Delighted to see this film again, which I first saw in 1981, in Paris. Most of it was as I remembered it , but one or two things were different. I realise it would not be everyone's choice, but the panorama of people, events and places is something I can luxuriate in. Still amazed that Geraldine Chaplin has such a smoky voice! Towards the end when characters appeared to be duplicated it was not always easy to follow - I speak good French, but even so, I think I would have benefited from a translation and some good subtitles. On the whole, though, the intricacies of the plot were revealed without difficulty and the insistent Bolero of Ravel drew it all together.
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paola-223 November 1998I watched this movie for first time in 1984. In many years of going to the movies this is the one I remember more - it has an excellent management of the subject, its relation in time, its deep human content and a real gift to the art. Mercie beaucoup, Monsier Lelouch!!!!!
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movimike18 July 2004I happened to be in Paris when this film was released. I was able to see it three times in 2 weeks at a theater who did English Subtitles. What an incredible movie. Unfortunately, it was released within months of Blake Edwards "10" which also used "Bolero" as it's main theme and that movie went over big time in the US, so distributors had a problem getting this film out. I wish they would re-release it. The thing I enjoy the most about it is the director's multiple uses of the actors. Many play their characters children and grandchildren. It is also an incredible look at a time when the world was trying to blow each other up and it shows that people everywhere just want the same things. A brilliant film.
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tee-169 August 1999Great film. I first saw it in a French class in school and I remember it being a powerful drama of four families and how they were all affected by world events. I think it is worth seeing and a good drama for those who enjoy history from a domestic point of view.
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rob.sutherland3 October 2003Life is too short to watch films more than once, but make an exception for this Masterpiece.
The threads are thinly woven - the Russian Ballerina, the German Pianist, the American Bandleader, the Parisian musicians. Their stories cross tangentially, and in a film with almost no dialogue the music drives them on through three generations.
This is a movie about love and family and emptiness and death, but also about redemption despite the complete lack of sentimentality in the film. The climax to the thread about the search of the mother for her son is unbearable to watch, despite being held in still-frame longshot. Every action, every nuance, every gesture...
This is a movie of recurrence - the scenes in the Paris station with first the Jews, then the Germans being herded onto the train, then finally the TV special. The way in which the American Bandleader whistles to his father, then his daughter's husband whistles to her in the same way. Even the recurring shots of the blind accordionist.
Possibly the ending is too neat. Perhaps the threads should remain frayed around the edges. But the symmetry of the overall structure reinforces the theme of redemption over many generations and through love. The 20th century has seen many horrors, but this is an optimistic film.
I cannot recommend this movie too highly. -
brunodutch23 February 2004Magnificent movie. Overwhelming. I was interested to read that it had been drastically shortened. In places it's not easy to keep the story straight. The only aspect I thought not good was the American story. James Caan is not good and Geraldine Chaplin is bizarrely cast. But. Having said that, I can't think of many other movies with a similar sweep and ambition. Personally I still prefer Les Miserables; but that, I think, is one of the best movies of the last ten years.
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rlmolenaar21 June 2007I just got the Dutch-subtitled version on DVD this week. Almost impossible to get. The last time I saw this magnificent movie was 20 years ago, but it still works!!! For music lovers (who are usually also a bit sentimental) this movie is an absolute MUST. The build-up of the story is brilliant, one needs to see it several times to get everything right. I agree with other reviewers that James Caan was not very well cast. But still 10 out of 10. The way the stories intertwine is complicated but brilliant. In Holland it put Ravel's Bolero, which was originally composed as a ballet, back in the charts. I still hope to get the original six-hour version one day. If anyone has it on DVD (in whatever language), please let me know. If anyone is interested in the French version with Dutch subtitles,contact me and Í'll see what I can do.
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Claude Lelouch starts his epic Les uns et les autres by citing Willa Cather: "There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before." This initially plays as an acknowledgment of the universal calamity of war: the film sets up scenarios in France, Germany, Russia and the US, then plunges them into immediate upheaval, dispatching some people whom we might have expected to be major characters so rapidly and cleanly that the impact is almost subliminal. As it travels into the present day, the film's narrative keeps gathering speed, often carrying the sense of a teetering helicopter: transitions from meetings to relationships to break-ups take mere seconds; fates are sealed in a couple of lines. Intentionally or not (it's hard to tell), Cather's maxim comes to seem not so much like an assertion of shared experience but as one of existential meaninglessness and stasis, in which nothing really evolves across generations (underlined by casting several actors as both mothers/fathers and their daughters/sons, and minimizing the use of aging make-up) or borders or transitions, and in which the national and social distinctions of the earlier sequences fuzzily converge. The redemption, it seems, lies in music: the movie overflows with performance - spanning dance and orchestral and pop videos and jazz bands, played to large crowds and empty halls, before cameras and in rehearsal rooms - culminating in a final extended showpiece that brings together most or all (it's hard to keep track) of the surviving characters either as performers or as spectators (the notion of sublimation into spectacle is one of several respects in which the film brings Scorsese's New York New York to mind, although the comparison only underlines the recurring passionless of Lelouch's creation). The film has no shortage of diversions then, and the ambition is almost hypnotic, but the further it pushes toward greatness, the smaller and emptier it ultimately feels.
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tonyking-212 August 2006One of the greatest classic films; saw it several times in the eighties on VHS video with an English soundtrack. It appears there is no DVD version available with an English soundtrack which seems strange and annoying as I would like to have a copy to keep. Along with Gone With The Wind and Dr Zhivago it is one of the best of its type. A complicated entwined WWII story or stories of various people brought together for a single purpose, a Unicef concert in Paris that may take a couple of viewings to piece it together but well worth it. The ballet performance to Bolero at the end is spine tingling,and from someone who does not really like ballet.....