La Vie et rien d’autre (1989)

La Vie et rien d’autre is a French war film first released in 1989, directed by Bertrand Tavernier.  The film stars Philippe Noiret, Sabine Azéma, Pascale Vignal, Maurice Barrier and François Perrot.  It has also been released under the title: Life and Nothing But.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


On a former battlefield in France in 1920, a commandant of the French army, Major Delaplane, has the job of identifying and taking a census of soldiers killed in action during the Great War.  He is conducting this gruesome and harrowing job when he meets and falls in love with a woman who is looking for her husband.

This is a powerful film with a genuinely epic feel.  The backdrop is movingly sombre, with sets scattered with the last remains of soldiers, some hastily dug graves, and hordes of women mourning the loss of husbands and sons.  There is no sense of victory or triumphalism after the war, and its central character, Delaplane, portrays the mood of grim realism of what the war has done to his country and to his life.

Unfortunately, the film is let down by a somewhat feeble love story involving Delaplane which has an unsatisfacory and unconvincing resolution.

At way over two hours in length, the lack of a substantial central plot is more than noticeable.  Towards the end, the film becomes slow and almost boring, despite some impressive visual images.  It is almost as if the grimness of the subject matter has completely overwhelmed the film.  However, considering how grim the subject matter is, that is hardly surprising.

© James Travers 1999

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