Les Uns et les autres (1981) - film review

Forty-five years of turmoil, passion and tragedy, seen through the eyes of two generations of four families.  In Moscow, 1936, an aspiring dancer Tatiana marries a man, Boris, who will give her a son just before he is killed during World War II.  In Berlin, Karl Kremer’s success as a pianist is confirmed when he receives praise from Hitler – something which will haunt him throughout his life.  In Paris, a young violinist Anne falls in love with a Jewish pianist, Simon Meyer; they marry and produce a son, but they end up on a train bound for a Nazi concentration camp. In New York, Jack Glenn is making his name with his popular jazz band.  Twenty years on, their children are reliving their experiences, and Anne Meyer continues her hopeless quest to find the son she was forced to abandon.

Claude Lelouch’s sprawling epic Les Uns et les autres originally ran to six hours and cost 50 million French francs to make (by far Lelouch’s most ambitious film).  Even when reduced to three hours, it is still a daunting film to sit through, in spite of its impressive production values (which include some stunning photography and an excellent musical score).  Like much of Lelouch’s work, the film feels over-long, self-indulgent and somewhat unfocussed.   It is also a painfully uneven film – the beauty, drama and sheer poignancy of the film’s first third are far less visible in the rest of the film.  Whereas the segment covering the period 1936-1945 is both interesting and moving (having a resonance with Louis Malle’s Au revoir les Enfants ), the following segments (set in the 1960s and 1980s) appear to tell us nothing, except perhaps to remind us how dull and sanitised life has become.  Another difficulty with the film is that the same actors play multiple parts with little – if anything – to differentiate their characters.   Not only does this risk confusing the spectator, but it also undermines its credibility.

These criticisms aside, Les Uns et les autres is a bold artistic endeavour and should be considered one of Claude Lelouch’s main achievements.  The grand operatic scale of the film has something of a Tolstoyan vision about it: epic in character yet showing a great deal of compassion for and understanding of the human spirit.  Amidst the grand set pieces (musical interludes which create a false impression of gaiety and optimism) are strewn the remnants of broken lives, wounds that are unseen, unhealed – a suggestion perhaps of Lelouch’s own painful experiences during World War II.

© James Travers 2003

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The write up for this film was that it was too long.  I sat through it after only being in France for two years and found it fabulous.  I was not told before going in how long the film was and I did not notice the time pass.  It left the languages as they were, with subtitles, which meant that if you are French, Russian, German or English, you felt a part of the story.  I did get confused by the fact the Geraldine played two roles, but not by any of the other actors.  Perhaps nowadays better make up would have been used to distinguish between the roles.  I would love for this film to come out on DVD.  Even with the revival of the old wars films on DVD, I seem to be unable to obtain a copy.  I am surprised it did not make more of a mark in the other countries.  The English appear to have never heard of it !
Josephine (Southampton, England) 

I had the privilege to be able to watch this film at the time it came out. Magnificent! I am sorry that it does not exist on the DVD, because I think it will make history.
Mario Robalo (Lisbon, Portugal) 

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