| Another Deville Delight |
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| written by talltale |
April 6, 2005 - 8:06 PM PDT |
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4 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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I suspect that Michel Deville is among the world's more underrated directors. From "Benjamin" to "La Lectrice," "Toutes Peines Confondues" and last year's ALMOST PEACEFUL, this French moviemaker appears able to tackle genres that range from nostalgic romance to character study, film noir and now this: a look at a small group of French Jews just after WWII, regrouping and coming to terms with their "new" life. Deville creates a lovely, sad but engaging and energetic community using a minimum of sets and the usual "period" trapping. Yet his film looks utterly real and is all the more moving for its economy and tact (it runs less than 90 minutes).
Don't look for enormous scenes of passion, heroics or tragedy. Instead, watch the little details that build into complex life. This particular period is one that I know little about, so I may have found the film even more fascinating because of this. In any case, "Almost Peaceful" deserves attention. Perhaps it's time for a retrospective of the work of this interesting moviemaker--not nearly enough of whose films are available on DVD here in the U.S. |
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