Watch Same Old Song For Free

People are voting emotionally.

How sad is this?

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

French movie lovers have known Resnais in a while now for his exquisite movies in the 50's-60's : Hiroshima mon amour, Muriel and his collaboration with German director Chris Marker; but also his more recent films like Mon Oncle d'Amérique, Pas sur la bouche and of course ON connaît la chanson. Another masterpiece according to me. Incredible acting and impressive mastering of both sound and image. The idea of having the actors sing well-known french songs out of the blue - but always corresponding to the situation - is fantastic and contributes to making On connaît la chanson a most entertaining movie. Besides that, Resnais develops a subtle meditation on the development of depression : all the characters have a nervous breakdown. The script, written by the talented Jean-Pierre Bacri and Agnes Jaoui, also acting in the movie, builds in that way. In life like in nervous breakdowns, nothing is what it seems. As all the characters try to hide their uneasiness, Resnais takes pleasure in always showing us things and twisting them so as to make them turn out differently : you think you're going to see a historic movie about the German occupation of Paris, and there you have the Germand General singing "j'ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris" !! When Camille and Nicolas meet, you think they know each other well, and it turns out they can't put a name on each other's face. Marc (Lambert Wilson) has cold, Camille thinks he's been dumped. And so on... That plus the witty situations make On connait la chanson a masterpiece because it is both deep and entertaining. Only problem, if you are not familiar with the French musical culture you might miss out on much of the comical effects of the movie. Still, great movie, great fun, always a delight to watch.

The films central theme, that of having characters break into lip-synced song and dance routines, is not original and indeed the film introduction acknowledges the debt to the UK playwright Dennis Potter. The plot of the film is enjoyable in a light hearted way and the characters well drawn and played. As a English speaker I assume that we lose something of the effect as the songs chosen are not familiar to us as no doubt they would be to a native French viewer. What does irritate slightly I found is the overuse of the "break into song". Potter, if my memory is correct, uses it far more sparingly with a few larger set pieces. At points in this film the characters are breaking into song so often that it feels as if the plot will be broken too much. Definitely worth watching though for the performances.

You probably know already that people in this movie simply start singing out of the blue but, unlike We usually see in musicals, no one starts dancing. Frankly, I almost lost interest in the fate of the characters, but managed to see this movie to the end, and It was funny enough, even though I did not know most of the songs. So I guess this can be fun to watch even if You, like myself, do not know much about French pop.

In the unapproximate center of "On connaît la chanson," find a marvelous joke that missed by everyone at the sold out SFIFF screening I attended. If you want to try to catch it yourself, then don't read on! I'm writing to those of you who didn't or won't catch it. Four or five characters are seated chatting or arguing, I forget, round a table in a busy restaurant. As you know from other comments here, the script incorporates line fragments from well-known French songs (kind of like those "hidden picture" puzzles in the dentist office magazine). As each occurs, someone bursts into song. One of our group, after an unremarkable, perfectly conversational pause, says "je ne regret rien," then pauses, as does everyone else round the table. They look at one another, everyone at everyone, the very clatter of the restaurant seems to pause, waiting, and for the only time in this film, nobody takes the cue. Nobody breaks into the Piaf standard.