Watch Candide or The Optimism in the 20th Century For Free
Candide or The Optimism in the 20th Century
Charming and innocent, Candide is vigorously chased away by the Baron, for his close encounters with the pretty Cunégonde. World War II breaks out, and when he is drafted and taken prisoner, he is forced to take German nationality and ends up guarding the camp where he was imprisoned. He crossed into Switzerland, but as he had no bank account, he was incarcerated for eight days for trespassing. Hunted by the Gestapo, he kills two men to free Cunégonde, who has finally been found. They both flee to Argentina, and their world tour begins. In Paris, Moscow, New York, Borneo and Alexandria. They try to follow Dr. Pangloss' optimistic rule of life. Tossed about, separated, they find themselves grown old and wiser, thinking only of cultivating their garden on the shores of the Mediterranean.
| Release : | 1962 |
| Rating : | 5.7 |
| Studio : | Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinéma, Courts et Longs Métrages (C.L.M.), |
| Crew : | Art Direction, Production Design, |
| Cast : | Jean-Pierre Cassel Daliah Lavi Pierre Brasseur Louis de Funès Michel Simon |
| Genre : | Comedy |
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Reviews
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Absolutely brilliant
A lot of fun.
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
The script writers have transposed the action of Voltaire's famous novel into the twentieth century,essentially the forties and the fifties.By doing so ,they did not make it realistic for all that: Carbonneaux's movie remain a fable faithful to the writer's spirit.Do not look for historical accuracy here: it's a mad story where the writers found good equivalents of the horrors depicted by Voltaire (particularly the horror of war).It does not always works ,but when it works,the lines are really funny and Jean-Pierre Cassel is ideally cast as Candide who ,in the worst situations, always shares the philosophy of his master Pangloss "everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds" ,perfect paraphrase of "it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good" or "every cloud has a silver lining".The cast is a who's who of the French cinema: Michel Simon is a military man ,who rejoices every time a new war breaks out;Daliah Lavi,who already played opposite Cassel in Gance's "Cyrano et d'Artagnan" is Mademoiselle Cunégonde,Candide's only love ,who is raped after the massacre of her parents and later ends up a harem in Morocco; Also featured are Pierre Brasseur,Michel Serrault -then teaming up with Jean Poiret-,Nadia Gray,Louis de Funès (you read well) as a man of the gestapo,Jacqueline Maillan ,Jean Richard and more...Like this?try these......."Fanfan la Tulipe" Christian- Jaque 1951"Forrest Gump" Robert Zemeckis 1994"La vita è bella" Roberto Benigni 1997
