19-12-2022, 10:37 AM
Watched this the other night, really good with a few unexpected twists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynh8hXoLza8
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/th...5aem0.html
"The play on which this movie is based, by French actor Jean-Philippe Daguerre, was first performed in 2016 in Avignon and went on to win four national theatre awards. In a generous gesture, Daguerre then handed it to Fred Cavaye, an old friend, to make a film and gave him full licence to change what he wanted.
The result is a powerful movie that wanders far from the play - but not so far that we can’t see its origins. No helping that: it is the story of a Jewish man cooped up in a basement in Paris during the war, as German troops march outside. The claustrophobia is built in, in that sense.
In the first act, Haffmann persuades his wife to take their three children to the “free zone”, hoping they can make it to Switzerland. He will follow in a few days. Before leaving, he “sells” his shop to his right-hand man Mercier - complete with deed of sale - with the understanding that he’ll give it back after the war, when Haffmann returns. Mercier readily agrees, although his timid wife Blanche (Sara Giraudeau) is appalled. He’s using you, she says. Yes, and we’re helping to save his family, responds the thoroughly decent Mercier, who’s longing for a chance to shine as a jewellery designer. Haffmann comes back that night: the escape routes are already closed. He ends up hiding in the cellar, as his employee becomes the new boss.
If reversal of fortune were the only idea, the film might have failed, but it’s just the beginning. Cavaye’s rewrite looks at the whole notion of collaboration, a thorny subject in a country that not only allowed, but assisted the deportation and murder of almost 75,000 French Jews."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynh8hXoLza8
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/th...5aem0.html
"The play on which this movie is based, by French actor Jean-Philippe Daguerre, was first performed in 2016 in Avignon and went on to win four national theatre awards. In a generous gesture, Daguerre then handed it to Fred Cavaye, an old friend, to make a film and gave him full licence to change what he wanted.
The result is a powerful movie that wanders far from the play - but not so far that we can’t see its origins. No helping that: it is the story of a Jewish man cooped up in a basement in Paris during the war, as German troops march outside. The claustrophobia is built in, in that sense.
In the first act, Haffmann persuades his wife to take their three children to the “free zone”, hoping they can make it to Switzerland. He will follow in a few days. Before leaving, he “sells” his shop to his right-hand man Mercier - complete with deed of sale - with the understanding that he’ll give it back after the war, when Haffmann returns. Mercier readily agrees, although his timid wife Blanche (Sara Giraudeau) is appalled. He’s using you, she says. Yes, and we’re helping to save his family, responds the thoroughly decent Mercier, who’s longing for a chance to shine as a jewellery designer. Haffmann comes back that night: the escape routes are already closed. He ends up hiding in the cellar, as his employee becomes the new boss.
If reversal of fortune were the only idea, the film might have failed, but it’s just the beginning. Cavaye’s rewrite looks at the whole notion of collaboration, a thorny subject in a country that not only allowed, but assisted the deportation and murder of almost 75,000 French Jews."
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)