Les Années sandwiches
1988 Drama   
 
Credits
  • Director: Pierre Boutron
  • Script: Pierre Boutron, Jean-Claude Grumberg, Serge Lentz (novel)
  • Photo: Dominique Brabant
  • Music: Roland Romanelli
  • Cast: Wojciech Pszoniak (Max), Thomas Langmann (Victor), Nicolas Giraudi (Félix), Michel Aumont (Oncle Jean), Clovis Cornillac (Bouboule), Patrick Chesnais (Arnaud), Philippe Khorsand (Sammy), Hélène Arié (La mère de Félix), François Perrot (Félix adulte), Roger Dumas (L'homme au chien), Clément Ashford (Le chauffeur noir), Etienne Bartholomeus (Le préposé RATP), Gerard Borlant (Camus), Juliette Degenne (Odette), Dominique Lavanant (La bourgeoise)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 100 min
  • Aka: The Sandwich Years
 
 
 
Summary
After World War II a French Jewish boy, Victor, finds work and shelter with an ageing Polish Jew, Max.  With no family of his own, Victor willingly embraces the friendship of another boy, Félix, who comes from a comfortable middle class background.  Victor gets mixed up with illicit trade in petrol, resulting in near-tragedy that costs him his best friend.

Review
Although competently made, with admirable attention to period detail, this well-intended portrait of adolescence and rejection doesn’t quite hit the mark.  The acting is generally below the standard you’d expect of a provincial repertory company (apart from the impeccable Michel Aumont) and there is a real problem with the constantly shifting focus in the narrative.  Just from whose point of view is the story being told?  What is the point of the flashback narrative if, at the end of the story the two main characters never renew their acquaintance?

© James Travers 2004


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