Revoir Film
Charise Scrivner
Months later, Mia's life has not returned to normal. She feels distant from her work and Vincent. And so begins her journey to remember the past to move forward. With determination, Mia tries to get answers about where she ended up during the shooting and what happened to the kind cook who held her hand and comforted her. On her journey, she meets and speaks with other survivors of the attack, all struggling in their own way. One woman accuses Mia of barricading herself in the bathroom, refusing to let anyone else in, which Mia doubts despite being unable to prove it. She meets another survivor, a teenager named Flicia (Nastya Golubeva), and they quickly form a bond. Mia has a very different dynamic with another survivor, a banker named Thomas (Benot Magimel), who is recuperating in the hospital. These connections all bring Mia comfort and help jog her memory.
As Mia, Efira gives a subdued performance enhanced by her expressive face. Much like her previous starring roles in "Benedetta" and "Sybil," Efira quietly commands the screen. Golubeva is also a standout as Flicia, a young woman with the maturity that comes from actively overcoming trauma. Additionally, Sofia Lesaffre does so much with her small, pivotal role as Nour, a young woman who still works at the bistro after the shooting.
Jourdain Searles is a freelance film and culture writer with bylines in The Hollywood Reporter, New York Magazine, Sight & Sound, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and Indiewire, among many other publications.
The world has lost a brilliant filmmaker, historian, and champion, and I have lost a cherished friend, Bertrand Tavernier. He died at age 79, which is too young for a man I hoped would live forever. I admired such films as The Clockmaker, Coup de Torchon, and A Sunday in the Country long before we met.
I personally appreciated the level of diversity of those involved in the attack, because it demonstrates how easily these events can occur to any individual, no matter the age or background. Revoir Paris touches on several real-life issues such as learning to embrace oneself after an event that causes not only mental trauma but physical trauma as well. This film also displays glimpses of life and issues an individual might experience or deal with if they are undocumented.
As for the characters, I found them to be as expected, almost, except for the main character of course. Personally, I find that Mia, the main character, holds a place in this film that cannot be replaced. Although she is a victim of a horrific trauma, she offers nothing but kindness and quiet reactions when she is met with harshness from other survivors, as well as in her personal life.
A good audience or viewer for Revoir Paris are those who have patience with the main character as she rediscovers the events of the night during the attack, and as she starts to figure things out for her past, present, and future relationships. I also believe that this film displays healthy ways to grieve and get past certain traumatic events, so any individuals looking to understand trauma and coming to terms with traumatic events might also enjoy or be interested in this film. Revoir Paris keeps viewers steadily on their toes as more information is discovered slowly by each character.
I watched this film on a French Film Festival we had here. Since it was a free session, the room was fool! My mother went, too, and we both loved it.
Your review is amazing. It touches all the good points about the movie, and talks about background and comparisons with other movies. I especially loved the cinematography and the masks.
Kisses!
Au revoir les enfants (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-smallfont-size:85%.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-smallfont-size:100%French pronunciation: [o ʁə.vwaʁ le zɑ̃.fɑ̃], meaning "Goodbye, Children") is an autobiographical 1987 film written, produced, and directed by Louis Malle.[1] It is based on the actions of Pre Jacques, a French priest and headmaster who attempted to shelter Jewish children during the Holocaust. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
One night, Julien wakes up and finds Bonnet wearing a kippah and praying in Hebrew. After digging through his new friend's locker, Julien learns the truth. His real name is not Bonnet, but Kippelstein. Pre Jean, a compassionate, sacrificing priest at the school, had agreed to grant secret asylum to hunted Jews. After a game of treasure hunt, Julien and Jean bond and develop a close friendship.
When Julien's mother visits on Parents' Day, Julien asks his mother if Bonnet, whose parents could not come, could accompany them to lunch at a gourmet restaurant. As they sit around the table, the talk turns to Julien's father, a factory owner. When Julien's brother asks if he is still for Marshal Ptain, Madame Quentin responds, "No one is anymore." The Milice arrive and attempt to expel a Jewish diner. When Julien's brother calls them "Collabos", the Milice commander is enraged and tells Madam Quentin, "We serve France, madam. He insulted us." But when a Wehrmacht officer coldly orders them to leave, the Milice officers grudgingly obey. Julien's mother comments that the Jewish diner appears to be a very distinguished gentleman. She insists that she has nothing against Jews, but would not object if the socialist politician Lon Blum were hanged.
Shortly thereafter, Joseph, the school's assistant cook, is exposed for selling the school's food supplies on the black market. He implicates several students as accomplices, including Julien and his brother, Franois. Although Pre Jean is visibly distressed by the injustice, he fires Joseph but does not expel the students for fear of offending their wealthy, influential parents.
On a cold morning in January 1944, the Gestapo raid the school, searching for Jean Kippelstein. As his classroom is being searched, Julien unintentionally gives away Bonnet by looking in his direction. As the other two Jewish boys are hunted down, Julien encounters the person who denounced them, Joseph the kitchen hand. Trying to justify his betrayal in the face of Julien's mute disbelief, Joseph tells him, "Don't act so pious. There's a war going on, kid." Disgusted, Julien runs off. Jean and Julien exchange books, a shared habit of theirs, as they pack away their belongings due to the closure of the school.
The film ends with an older Julien providing a voiceover epilogue, in which he mentions that Bonnet, Negus and Dupre died at Auschwitz, whereas Pre Jean died at Mauthausen; the school reopened in October. He explains that although more than 40 years have passed, he will remember every second of that January morning until the day he dies.
The film is based on events in the childhood of the director, Louis Malle, who at age 11 was attending a Roman Catholic boarding school near Fontainebleau. One day, he witnessed a Gestapo raid in which three Jewish students and a Jewish teacher were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz. The school's headmaster, Pre Jacques, was arrested for harboring them and sent to the concentration camp at Mauthausen. He died shortly after the camp was liberated by the U.S. Army, having refused to leave until the last French prisoner was repatriated. Forty years later, Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, granted Pre Jacques the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
The film was extremely well received by critics.[3][4][5][6] Au Revoir, les Enfants has an approval rating of 97% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 37 reviews, and an average rating of 9.1/10, with the consensus: "Louis Malle's autobiographical tale of a childhood spent in a WWII boarding school is a beautifully realized portrait of friendship and youth."[7] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 88 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[8]
According to Quentin Tarantino, the title for his first feature-length film, Reservoir Dogs (1992), came about after a patron at a Video Archives rental store, where Tarantino worked, misheard his film suggestion of Au revoir les enfants as "reservoir dogs".[9]
The Film Stage: In all of your films you do an incredible job putting the audience in the headspace of your characters through really precise sound design and cinematography. Can you talk about that creative process?
During that time of development and research for Revoir Paris, what did you learn the most about talking with survivors or how a nation responds to trauma? Was there anything that really surprised you that you wanted to make sure worked its way into the film?
The presentation of the subtitles: How the subtitles are presented in foreign films is very important. If they can be seen clearly, it allows the audience to better understand what the characters are saying. I liked how the subtitles were showcased in Au revoir les enfants! While all of the text was white, it was presented against backgrounds that were dark in hue. The very first scene in the movie is a great example of this. The station and train itself adopted colors of black and gray. None of the characters in this scene wore bright colors. Because of this creative decision, I never had a difficult time reading the subtitles.
Revoir Paris is part of My Summer of Summer Movies, in which I am attempting to see and review every movie that opens (in Chicago) between Memorial Day and Labor Day, 2023. Read all about this ill-advised plan here.
What Revoir Paris is, you see, is a film about a sensationalistic topic that deftly avoids sensationalism, and a film about stark, inhumane violence that locates and celebrates tiny, tender moments of humanity. Defying genre, eschewing dramatic contrivance, and avoiding platitudes, it is the rare film about extraordinary events that makes us feel we have spent time with ordinary people, and come out better for it.
ff7609af8f