|
|
Uranus
1990 History / Comedy / Drama
Review
Based on a controversial 1948 novel by the eminent writer Marcel
Aymé, Uranus exposes
some unpalatable truths about France’s experiences under Nazi
Occupation. Contrary to the popular notion that everyone bar a
handful of nasty collaborators was a resistance fighter who spent all
day blowing up trains of Nazi convoys, Uranus tells a very different
story, one which is far nearer the truth. Whilst Claude Berri’s adaptation doesn’t quite do justice to the original novel, with most of the characters reduced to eccentric caricatures, it does get its message across very effectively. The post-war purges, which saw hundreds of French men and women executed for alleged collaboration, may not have been on the same scale as the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, but they are equally as shameful - particularly when many thousands of collaborators switched sides as soon as it became clear where the war was going to end. Uranus is a poignant and thought-provoking period drama which offers an insight into a dark period of French history which the French would prefer to forget. A lavish production, its main pleasure are the deliciously bravura performances from some of French cinemas greatest actors, including Gérard Depardieu and Philippe Noiret. © James Travers 2009 Write a review for this film...User Comments
This is a chapter of post-war French history which many Frenchmen prefer to neglect. In contrast to what they want us to believe, most countrymen were not members of the Resistance, committing acts of sabotage everyday against the Nazi occupiers. Claude Berri makes a distinction between Communists and Socialists, between collaborators and war profiteers. As life in this destroyed town gradually gets back to normal, many of the inhabitants still have a score to settle and this cannot be accomplished without bloodshed. Mainly due to Gérard Depardieu’s overwhelming performance as a landlord who drinks and fights and now reaches a phase in which poems constantly come to his mind, this is a most remarkable film. Next to him and just as convincing is Philippe Noiret as a romantic dreamer who believes in every man’s goodness and who keeps watching the stars. Martin Zopick (Würzburg, Germany) 
How do you rate this film? |
Director:
Claude Berri
Starring: Michel Blanc, Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Philippe Noiret, Gérard Desarthe Synopsis
Little by little, normality returns to a small French town after World
War II. The town is as scarred by the petty recriminations
between its inhabitants as by the very evident signs of bombings.
Dr Archambaud shares his apartment with those whose own homes were
destroyed in the bombing – the idealistic schoolteacher Watrin, who
sees nothing bad in human nature, and Gaigneux, a militant
Communist. With his school in ruins, Watrin is forced to give his
lessons in a café owned by the alcoholic Léopold, who
discovers an ardent passion for poetry. Abused by Léopold,
Rochard, a Communist railway worker, resolves to have his
revenge. He gets his chance when he learns that
someone in the town is sheltering a former collaborator, Maxime
Loin. Rochard denounces Léopold to the police, who waste
no time throwing him in jail. In fact Loin is in the care of Dr
Archambaud, who fears the consequences for his family if ever the
police should learn the truth...
Credits
|
  |
© filmsdefrance.com 2009