I would not have watched this film had I known it was a musical. Not my genre. There are only four songs and they are mercifully not too long. They were recorded live while shooting and the compositions have an odd unpolished quality.
It's 1917 in northern France. A company of eleven French soldiers, including a lieutenant, are moving through the countryside. A woman impersonating a man succeeds in joining the company. While the mission of the company is not immediately revealed, the woman is on a quest to find her husband, also a soldier at the front, whose whereabouts are unknown. The film is taken up by the journey of those twelve characters.
The war is near but battles don't make it to the screen. You may see some smoke, hear the sound of cannons and explosions, and see a few dead bodies. The war is context but it's depiction is not central. The stress is on the men of the company and the interloper they have adopted.
The musical numbers are surreal interludes. Out of the blue makeshift instruments appear, mostly string, a piano once and a clarinet. Obviously the soldiers are not carrying them around. It's fanciful and it rubbed me in the wrong way.
It's 1917 in northern France. A company of eleven French soldiers, including a lieutenant, are moving through the countryside. A woman impersonating a man succeeds in joining the company. While the mission of the company is not immediately revealed, the woman is on a quest to find her husband, also a soldier at the front, whose whereabouts are unknown. The film is taken up by the journey of those twelve characters.
The war is near but battles don't make it to the screen. You may see some smoke, hear the sound of cannons and explosions, and see a few dead bodies. The war is context but it's depiction is not central. The stress is on the men of the company and the interloper they have adopted.
The musical numbers are surreal interludes. Out of the blue makeshift instruments appear, mostly string, a piano once and a clarinet. Obviously the soldiers are not carrying them around. It's fanciful and it rubbed me in the wrong way.