Film Review
In the 1970s, racial intolerance in France, indeed most of the western
world, was on the increase, fuelled by the escalating violence in the
Middle East and a growing public concern over immigration. In
this troubled decade,
La Vie devant
soi offered a rare beacon of hope, a film that stressed the
importance of racial identity whilst presenting the absurdity and
inhumanity of racial prejudice with great eloquence. The film was
directed by the distinguished Israeli filmmaker Moshé Mizrahi,
adapted from a prize-winning novel by Romain Gary. The latter
created a storm of controversy when, on his death in 1980, it was
revealed that he had written the novel under an assumed name
(Émile Ajar), allowing him to win the prestigious literary award
the Prix Goncourt a second time (something that was strictly
forbidden). Gary's well-developed penchant for irony, compassion
and social justice resonate throughout the film, which is arguably the
best adaptation of his work.
What makes the film particularly memorable is the heart-warming rapport
between its two lead actors, Simone Signoret and Samy
Ben-Youb. The role of the former Jewish prostitute and
Holocaust survivor slowly succumbing to decrepitude and dependency on
others could have been written for Signoret, and her performance is
easily one of her finest, a worthy recipient of the Best Actress
César in 1978. Ben-Youb is just as engaging in his one and
only screen role - his portrayal of the abandoned, totally mixed-up
Algerian boy Momo immediately brings to mind Jean-Pierre Léaud's
Antoine Doinel in Truffaut's
Les 400 coups (1959).
Despite his evident lack of acting experience, Ben-Youb has no
difficulty stealing our sympathies and the film is as much his as it is
Signoret's. The final sequences of the film, in which Momo's love
for his guardian compels him to take charge of her destiny in a
dramatic way, are as poignant as they are shocking and we are left
wondering what it means to truly love someone and how far that love may
take us.
The film not only shines a light on racial intolerance in the present
day (the most memorable scene is the one in which Momo's father, a Muslim,
has a cardiac arrest when he learns that his son has been brought up as
a Jew), it also evokes painful memories of the Holocaust and France's
shameful complicity in the round up of Jews. Another taboo
subject the film broaches, with surprising candour and daring, is that
of euthanasia; four decades on, assisted suicide is one of the most
hotly debated issues of our time, and the notion that everyone has the
right to a dignified death is one that is powerfully expressed in the
film. The parallel between the torture inflicted on Jews by the
Nazis in concentration camps and the suffering experienced by those
being kept alive by artificial means in hospitals is crude to the point
of being obscene but it does prompt the spectator to question the value
of prolonging life for the sake of it.
La Vie devant soi touches on
so many pertinent social themes and has so much to say to the present
generation that it is surprising how little known the film is
today. When it was released in 1977, it attracted an audience of
two million in France and enjoyed a successful international
showing. As well as being nominated for three Césars,
it won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1978. It
is a film that tackles a whole raft of controversial subjects with sensitivity
and intelligence, and it is probably even more relevant today than when it
was first seen. Mizrahi made a few notable
films after this one, including
Chère inconnue (1980)
with Signoret, but none of these has that potent blend of
compassion, insight and humanity that so powerfully illuminates
La Vie devant soi and which makes
it truly a film for our time.
© James Travers 2012
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Film Synopsis
In her younger days, Madame Rosa used to make a decent living for herself
as a prostitute in a popular district of Paris. Now that she is old,
she devotes her time and her energies to looking after the unwanted offspring
of others of her former profession. Living in a top floor apartment,
her health and financial resources both ebbing away, Rosa feels she is fading
into obscurity, but her neighbours keep a friendly eye on her to see that
she comes to no harm. Dr Katz manages to put her mind at rest that
she doesn't have cancer, but Rosa knows that her days are numbered.
An Auschwitz survivor, Rosa is still haunted by memories of Nazi persecution
but she consoles herself with her latest charge, Momo, an Arab boy with a
fierce rebellious streak. Momo has now reached the age when he is curious
to know something of his origins, but how can Rosa break to him the news
that his father was a nasty piece of work? When the old woman's health
takes a sudden turn for the worse, Dr Katz insists that she should go into
hospital for treatment without delay. But Rosa refuses, unable to abandon
the boy in her care. Momo finally manages to persuade his guardian
to leave her apartment and join her relatives in Israel...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.