Life: a lie

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Movie
German title Life: a lie
Original title Un héros très discret
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1996
length 105 minutes
Rod
Director Jacques Audiard
script Jacques Audiard, Alain Le Henry , based on a novel by Jean-François Deniau
music Alexandre Desplat
camera Jean-Marc Fabre
cut Juliette Welfling
occupation

Life: A Lie is the second directorial work by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard , who also co-wrote the script. First shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996 , it was awarded the Grand Prize for Best Screenplay. The story is based on the novel Un héros très discret (1989) by Jean-François Deniau . It is about a young French man who was left almost without a trace by the events of the Second World War in a provincial café, and who, after the liberation at the end of 1944 , assumed a past as a Resistance fighter. The story of the imposter, whom people are too happy to believe, goes beyond the individual case. It aims at an attitude widespread in post-war France, according to which everyone wants to have been a hero and no one a collaborator during the war . Audiard: “And then there was this big lie that all of France had resisted. A nation that lies to itself because the truth is not beautiful to look at and to speak. (...) In addition to the truly heroic actors of this time, there were also liars and those who wanted to be lied to. "

criticism

The critic of Les Echos said that for a long time French cinema had not given its audience such a strong and disturbing film. Audiard has a cool, assertive tone and uses his resources, which never slow down the rhythm, sparingly. Seconded by perfect supporting actors, Mathieu Kassovitz plays amazingly calm and even in the improbable natural. The film tells of the colossal ability of our society (here, back then, but ...) to allow itself to be done for its best when it suits you, to put the story together for a clear conscience, and to idolize cheaters when they are confident and appear dashing. Jean-Michel Frodon expressed his disapproval in Le Monde . The director shows his directorial skills and Kassovitz plays with unquestionable effectiveness. Audiard was only partially successful in dealing with the sensitive historical material. Ultimately, this is not a history film, but one about the spectacle, and the characters repeatedly praise the wrong appearances. It is even more embarrassing that this message is doubled on a formal level with visual tricks and dream images. The viewer should be made an accomplice and manipulated by making him applaud illusionists. Nobody is obliged to find the thesis sympathetic that the truth is nothing but bait for naive people.

Life: A Lie was first seen in Germany at the Hamburg Film Festival in 1996, but was not part of the regular cinema program. The Süddeutsche Zeitung praised the "gorgeous portrait of a basically very shy greyhound who is most amazed at his recklessness." Like other successful stories, this helps the impotent to feel power and strength. “A little magic is just part of it. And this is exactly what Audiard managed to do in an impressively easy, almost self-deprecating manner. ”The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung described the film as“ as charming as it is sarcastically biting ”, the main character of which“ masters the elegance of the inconspicuous to perfection. ”The critic summed up:“ Nobody takes the serious more easily than the French without taking it lightly. ”The taz critic found the comedy and Kassovitz both“ fantastic ”. The Liberation's allegations that the film was too lightweight, especially in times when revisionism was flourishing, was rejected: "as if a film wasn't a sign of the greatest sovereignty and serenity and as if one shouldn't rather mistrust the great revelers and unmaskers." The reviewer of the film-dienst was delighted: “The credibility and the success of the film are due not least to the great interpretation by Mathieu Kassovitz, who carries the film. His restrained and at the same time nuanced play gives the character so much charm that the viewer cannot help but find this anti-hero likeable. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Roswitha Naddaf: Succumb to the charm of the heroes. New French films . In: film-dienst , No. 21/1996
  2. ↑ Annie Coppermann: Cinéma en competition in Cannes. Un héros très discret . In: Les Echos , May 15, 1996, p. 47
  3. ↑ Jean-Michel Frodon: Un efficace et discutable éloge du mensonge . In: Le Monde , May 17, 1996
  4. ↑ Peter Buchka: A little magic is simply part of it . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 18, 1996, p. 14
  5. ^ Hans-Dieter Seidel: Dear snow shoveling in Minnesota . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 17, 1996, p. 41
  6. ↑ Mariam niroumand: Cannes Cannes . In: taz , May 17, 1996, p. 15

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