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The Worst Film Ever

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best movie i've ever seen.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

There's really nothing to say about "Laissez-passer" that Bertrand Tavernier didn't put in his movie, for its statements about history and art is loud, clear, and beautifully exposed in his sincere and passionate motion picture.The tone of the movie, however, immediately repulsed me, with its over-theatrical aspect, where all the "realistic" details of the time area of the film (post-WWII occupation in France) are artificially underline (from the way people talks to the objects...). This gives a fake aspect to the all beginning of the movie, and is particularly striking in the first scene, that presents the characters and the situations through a vaudeville's scene, in which all a hostel shut up to allow a famous actress to met her lover, the well-known writer Jean Aurenche, while thinking she's unnoticed. But this tone, that underlines the artificiality of the scene, is only annoying for a little while, and is almost absolutely forgotten when the real story begins with the apparition of Devaire.Another subject of doubt is the blur of the narration, which only confronts two different stories, without even organize a meeting between the two main characters. But this impression is also erased as soon as you understand that Devaire and Aurenche only embodies two parallels idea of resistance : Devaire, the assistant director, is all in act, while Aurenche, the movie writer, resists with words. The interest of the movie comes by the confrontation and the parallelism of the two situations, as in "The Godfather II", where the actions of the son only takes a meaning trough the ones his father done years ago. In "Laissez-passer", Devaire goes to England while Aurenche has to justified himself in front of a Vichy employee.The movie is also enjoyable thanks to its optimism. The vision of art and of Cinema it deals with, underlines that aspect. It appears as a need, an urge that allows people to really live, not to accept the world, but to modified the way people look at it. It's also through art that resistance could express itself (to the German at the time of the movie, but its meaning is far more general). The artifices of the costumes, of the metaphors can allow artists to show a masked reality.It's true that the movie sometimes looks like a TV movie - with its inexplicable fade to black, its need to present a "well done" reconstitution, etc. - but this is at the end not so annoying, for the goal of Tavernier is to guide us the easiest way, with conventional codes and an aesthetic that won't chock anybody, thru his historical and cinematographic passions. Of course, none of this is really new or inventive, but still, it really is passionate.

This is a film directed by Bertrand Tavernier. I loved his film IT ALL STARTS TODAY, and I was quite impressed by this one as well. However, be forewarned that this film will not be for all tastes. If you are French or have a good knowledge of French cinema, then you'll no doubt enjoy this film. Otherwise, you may find yourself very confused and bored, as the movie is 163 minutes long. I enjoyed it though, because they made reference to many films, directors and actors who worked under this system whose work I have seen (such as Clouzot and his film THE RAVEN and the Swiss actor Michel Simon).The film concerns the French film industry during the Nazi occupation. Despite the Germans running things, they did allow the French to continue making films--so long as they didn't violate Nazi sensibilities. After the war, some of these people who continued making films were sharply criticized as collaborators. This film focuses on two people in the business and illustrated that there were many different motivations for working in the film industry at this time. Some simply had no choice (work or die), some needed jobs, some gladly embraced evil and some worked in the film business while actively fighting the Nazis. The two men are a very busy writer and an assistant director. The writer (Jean Aurenche) has a very shallow, if not non-existent moral compass, as he is most concerned with sexual conquests and not "rocking the boat". The assistant director (Jean-Devaivre), in sharp contrast, is a loving family man who also works with the Resistance and takes great risks for what he knows is right.The writing, directing and acting are all first-rate and it was an excellent film--especially from a historical standpoint. By the way, the two main characters were real figures in the film industry. In fact, Jean-Devaivre wrote the book on which the movie is based.

'Laissez-passer' (Safe Conduct) is an epic film not of the giant battlefield scenes type, but of the inner humanity placed in jeopardy during war times. Director Bernard Tavernier has been making important films since the 1960s and here directs a story by Jean Cosmos and Jean-Devaivre that explores the survival of writers and actors and filmmakers during the German occupation of Paris in World War II. The result is an intensely rich examination of that period of time when the French Resistance successfully and bravely struggled against the Nazi invaders: yet another result is a film that is so long that it calls for an entire evening's concentration on a story that begs to be edited.Based on a true story of screenwriter Jean Aurenche (Denis Podalydès), firm in his conviction that he would never write in support of the Nazi regime, and director Jean Devaivre (Jacques Gamblin) who opted for complying on the surface with a film production company headed by the German occupiers while retaining his firm stance as part of the French Resistance, the story involves a large cast who portray actors, production people, friends, victims, Germans, etc and the plot is at times so convoluted that you may need to pause and backup to make sure you have not lost any important information.The actors are outstanding and the complete production crew of this film has created a tense, atmospheric, intelligent tale that makes the audience respect even more the incredible bravery of the French Resistance movement. This is brilliant film-making - it just goes on a bit too long at 2 hours and 45 minutes! Grady Harp, September 05

So many great names appear !Some of them have been so much despised by the young Turks of the nouvelle vague that it's really a pleasure to hear and see names like Jean-Paul LeChanois -whose behavior was admirable- ,André Cayatte,Maurice Tourneur ,Claude Autant-Lara.Henri-Georges Clouzot,maybe the greatest of them all does not appear ,but we see the door of his office in "la Continentale" a German films firm which produced "le corbeau" and for which Clouzot and others were blacklisted.We see also Michel Simon's back playing in Cayatte's "au bonheur des dames" .Was Tavernier too respectful or did he believe (with good reason) no actor could ACT the monstre sacré?Excerpts of movies are also included ,notably "douce" with the immortal scene "paying a visit to the poor" with Marguerite Moreno comforting the humble people with her "patience and resignation" ;we also get an excerpt of Tourneur's "la main du diable" ,one of the best fantastic movies of the French cinema.The movie was not a big commercial success and it's easy to see why;you've got to know and appreciate the French cinema during the Occupation.There are veiled hints:they speak of the "Gauloise" during Simon' s sequence :it's Simon's good friend Arletty who was in love with a German .And in the end ,the movie disappoints ,getting bogged down in details and played with actors who lack charisma :Denis Podalydes as Jean Aurenche,who wrote " Douce" " le diable au corps" "Jeux interdits" !He even wrote for Tavernier himself :all his first movies!Well Denis Podalydes may be a commendable actor but elsewhere!The same can be said of the rest of the cast:no stand-out.The English episode was it so necessary?The movie is useful anyway.It makes feel like watching again and again and again "Douce" "la main du diable" or "le corbeau" ,these jewels which the nouvelle vague was never able,in spite of their pretension,to equal.NB:Jean Devaivre became a director after the war:his first movies were offbeat works such as "la dame de onze heures"and "la ferme des sept péchés".but he quickly degenerated into mediocrity with his poor sequels of Richard Pottier 's "Caroline Chérie" .