La Vie est un roman (1983)
Directed by Alain Resnais

Drama / Comedy / Musical
aka: Life Is a Bed of Roses

Film Review

Abstract picture representing La Vie est un roman (1983)
The relationship between times past and present is a recurrent theme in Alain Resnais' cinema.  Whereas his earlier films adopt an abstract, often bewildering, approach, his later films, and La Vie est un roman is a prime example of this, opt for the more direct path.  In this particular film, past and present are represented by two completely separate story strands.  Yet they overlap and have so much in common (the location, the quest for Utopia) that we feel we are watching the same story from two different perspectives.  There is also a third story, less developed, involving some medieval dungeons and dragons type characters - utterly perplexing but strangely adding to the structure of the film.

Such a film could only be possible if it were created by a great director who had the services of an equally talented photography director.  This film has both, and that is quite evident from the first five minutes of the film.  Nuttyen's camera work is not just impressive - it is sumptuous and captivating.  It is often remarked that one of the distinguishing features of Resnais' films is that the audience is spellbound from start to finish - once their attention has been grabbed, it isn't released until the “Fin” caption comes up. Whilst La Vie est un roman is not in the league of some of Resnais' earlier works, such as L'Année dernière à Marienbad , it is nonetheless a stunningly filmed piece of cinema.

The presence of such a strong cast is almost incidental, but the film is certainly enhanced by such actors as Ruggero Raimondi as the dangerously obsessed Count Forbek and Fanny Ardant as his cheating wife.  The final scenes between these two actors are so charged that you feel anything could happen - and it does.

The icing on the cake has to be the eerie music which accompanies the film from start to finish.  It is really very unsettling to have such music, which would seem to have been composed for a gory thriller, being played against scenes which appear mildly comic.  Resnais seems to be reminding us that beneath the surface there lurks something quite unpleasant.   The message is reinforced by the constant jaunts from 1982 back to the 1910s, in a strange and disturbing mélange of light comedy with gothic horror.  The errors of the past manage to create a resonance in the present - a typically Resnais-esque notion of time and memory.
© James Travers 2001
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.
Next Alain Resnais film:
L'Amour à mort (1984)

Film Synopsis

On the eve of the First World War, a wealthy count, Forbek, builds a rocco pleasure dome in the French countryside.  He invites his wife and his friends to live a life of idyllic seclusion inside the dome.  In 1982, the same dome is the venue for a teaching seminar attended by a number of teachers with some radical ideas for educating children.  Both Forbek and the seminar's organisers are striving for similar things, the creation of a better world.  Both are doomed to failure…
© James Travers
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.


Film Credits

  • Director: Alain Resnais
  • Script: Jean Gruault
  • Cinematographer: Bruno Nuytten
  • Music: M. Philippe-Gérard
  • Cast: Vittorio Gassman (Walter Guarini), Ruggero Raimondi (Comte Michel Forbek), Geraldine Chaplin (Nora Winkle), Fanny Ardant (Livia Cerasquier), Pierre Arditi (Robert Dufresne), Sabine Azéma (Élisabeth Rousseau), Robert Manuel (Georges Leroux), Martine Kelly (Claudine Obertin), Samson Fainsilber (Zoltán Forbek), Véronique Silver (Nathalie Holberg), André Dussollier (Raoul Vandamme), Guillaume Boisseau (Frédéric), Sabine Thomas (Marie), Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu (School Teacher), Rodolphe Schacher (Pierre), Jean-Claude Arnaud (Le conducteur de la camionnette), Lucienne Hamon (Juliette Watelet), Jean-Louis Richard (Pére Jean Watelet), Hélène Patarot (Thi Lan), Flavie Ducorps (La fille de Nora Winkle)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Support: Color
  • Runtime: 110 min
  • Aka: Life Is a Bed of Roses

The very best French thrillers
sb-img-12
It was American film noir and pulp fiction that kick-started the craze for thrillers in 1950s France and made it one of the most popular and enduring genres.
The best French films of 2019
sb-img-28
Our round-up of the best French films released in 2019.
The very best of Italian cinema
sb-img-23
Fellini, Visconti, Antonioni, De Sica, Pasolini... who can resist the intoxicating charm of Italian cinema?
The Carry On films, from the heyday of British film comedy
sb-img-17
Looking for a deeper insight into the most popular series of British film comedies? Visit our page and we'll give you one.
The best French Films of the 1910s
sb-img-2
In the 1910s, French cinema led the way with a new industry which actively encouraged innovation. From the serials of Louis Feuillade to the first auteur pieces of Abel Gance, this decade is rich in cinematic marvels.
 

Other things to look at


Copyright © frenchfilms.org 1998-2024
All rights reserved



All content on this page is protected by copyright