Bon voyage

Genre: suspense

With: Isabelle Adjani (Viviane Denvers), Gérard Depardieu (Jean-Étienne Beaufort), Grégori Derangère (Frédéric Auger), Virginie Ledoyen (Camille), Yvan Attal (Raoul), Jean-Marc Stehlé (Professor Kopolski), Peter Coyote (Alex Winckler)

Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau

Release: 2003

Studio: ARP Sélection et al.

Rating: PG

MBiS score: 8.1/10

There Are VIPs Everybody Seeks and VIPs Nobody Should Know

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Story-line: Paris, 1940. While Hitler’s army threatens France, Viviane Denvers, a celebrated actress, attends the premiere of her new movie in the company of a cabinet minister and assorted hangers-on. Coming home afterwards, she eludes one more admirer with the help of Frédéric Auger, a childhood friend. And that’s when things get rather complicated for the beautiful star and the gallant Frédéric…

Pluses: a luxurious and well-crafted production, a tight, fast-paced and twist-filled screenplay that features splendid characters and allows them to evolve as circumstances warrant, a balanced mix of drama and humour, top-grade performances by Isabelle Adjani (her Viviane is a complicated woman who puts her charms to good use), Gérard Depardieu (alternately austere and delicate), Grégori Derangère, Virginie Ledoyen and Yvan Attal. 

Minuses: none I can think of.

Comments: the synopsis above may not seem very inviting but it only covers the first ten minutes of the movie. As a whole, BON VOYAGE is an old-fashioned cliffhanger about one very important man who must be shielded from the Nazis. Noble sentiments, political intrigue, love and dastardly dealings … there’s something for everyone in this memorable picture by Jean-Paul Rappeneau.   

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Deer Hunter (The)

Genre: psychological drama

With: Robert De Niro (Michael Vronsky), John Savage (Steven), Christopher Walken (Nick), John Cazale (Stan), Meryl Streep (Linda), George Dzundza (John the bartender), Rutanya Alda (Angela)

Director: Michael Cimino

Screenplay: Deric Washburn (from a story by Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker)

Release: 1978

Studio: EMI Films, Universal Pictures

Rating: 18+

MBiS score: 8.8/10

Can Life Ever Be The Same Once You’ve Tasted War?  

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Story-line: during the late 1960s, three young men from a rugged industrial town in Pennsylvania attain personal milestones: marriage for one and a tour of duty in Vietnam for all three.  

Pluses: fabulous performances by a virile Robert De Niro, a fresh-faced Christopher Walken, the brilliant Meryl Streep and an evenly professional cast (notably the Asian actors), a logical and sensible screenplay providing emotional power, surprising twists and moments of humour, adept directorial work (the wedding and party scenes in particular), gritty photography by Vilmos Zsigmond, a measured musical theme (Stanley Myers).    

Minuses: the combat episodes are very intense (more so than in APOCALYPSE NOW, for instance). The final sequence may seem a bit too patriotic – in view of history’s judgment on the Vietnam war – but it does reflect a viewpoint shared by many at the time.   

Comments: THE DEER HUNTER stands as a sober examination of personal lives altered by global events and a poignant statement about friendship and respect. Michael Cimino’s masterwork is a fine companion piece to ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, that great old classic depicting one soldier’s fate on and off the battlefield.   

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