Laissez-passer (2002)
Country: FR/GER/SP
Technical: col/scope 170m
Director: Bertrand Tavernier
Cast: Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydès, Marie Desgranges, Marie Gillain
Synopsis:
During the German occupation of Paris the fortunes of two young employees of the struggling national film industry, Jean Aurenche and Jean-Devaivre, put them forever on the move - but for differing reasons: the former, a screenwriter, refuses to work for German-run Continental Films but is less scrupulous in his loyalty to any one of his three mistresses; the latter, an assistant director, takes pride in his work for Maurice Tourneur at Continental but is ill at ease morally and engages in impulsive espionage for the cause of the Resistance.
Review:
Exhaustively detailed exploration, and to some extent exoneration, of the figures who worked to keep the film industry French during the war; and one can't help feeling Tavernier also seeks to revive interest in that whole 'cinéma de papa' derided since the Nouvelle Vague (it began as a cloak for subversive sentiments). It's undeniably fascinating, and meticulously recreated, but for its length one feels somehow cheated of drama.
Country: FR/GER/SP
Technical: col/scope 170m
Director: Bertrand Tavernier
Cast: Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydès, Marie Desgranges, Marie Gillain
Synopsis:
During the German occupation of Paris the fortunes of two young employees of the struggling national film industry, Jean Aurenche and Jean-Devaivre, put them forever on the move - but for differing reasons: the former, a screenwriter, refuses to work for German-run Continental Films but is less scrupulous in his loyalty to any one of his three mistresses; the latter, an assistant director, takes pride in his work for Maurice Tourneur at Continental but is ill at ease morally and engages in impulsive espionage for the cause of the Resistance.
Review:
Exhaustively detailed exploration, and to some extent exoneration, of the figures who worked to keep the film industry French during the war; and one can't help feeling Tavernier also seeks to revive interest in that whole 'cinéma de papa' derided since the Nouvelle Vague (it began as a cloak for subversive sentiments). It's undeniably fascinating, and meticulously recreated, but for its length one feels somehow cheated of drama.
Country: FR/GER/SP
Technical: col/scope 170m
Director: Bertrand Tavernier
Cast: Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydès, Marie Desgranges, Marie Gillain
Synopsis:
During the German occupation of Paris the fortunes of two young employees of the struggling national film industry, Jean Aurenche and Jean-Devaivre, put them forever on the move - but for differing reasons: the former, a screenwriter, refuses to work for German-run Continental Films but is less scrupulous in his loyalty to any one of his three mistresses; the latter, an assistant director, takes pride in his work for Maurice Tourneur at Continental but is ill at ease morally and engages in impulsive espionage for the cause of the Resistance.
Review:
Exhaustively detailed exploration, and to some extent exoneration, of the figures who worked to keep the film industry French during the war; and one can't help feeling Tavernier also seeks to revive interest in that whole 'cinéma de papa' derided since the Nouvelle Vague (it began as a cloak for subversive sentiments). It's undeniably fascinating, and meticulously recreated, but for its length one feels somehow cheated of drama.