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.
Review of Same Old Song
