Les Uns et les autres (1981)
Directed by Claude Lelouch

Film Review

Claude Lelouch's sprawling epic Les Uns et les autres originally ran to six hours and cost 50 million French francs to make (by far Lelouch's most ambitious film).  Even when reduced to a more digestible three hours, it is still a daunting film to sit through, in spite of its impressive production values (which include some stunning photography and a score of exceptional quality).  Like much of Lelouch's work, the film feels over-long, self-indulgent and for the most part terribly unfocussed.   It is also a painfully uneven film - the beauty, drama and sheer poignancy of the film's first third are far less visible in the rest of the film.  Whereas the segment covering the period 1936-1945 is both interesting and moving (having a resonance with Louis Malle's Au revoir les Enfants), the following segments (set in the 1960s and 1980s) appear to tell us nothing, except perhaps to remind us how dull and sanitised life has become.  Another difficulty with the film is that the same actors play multiple parts with little - if anything - to differentiate their characters.   Not only does this risk confusing the spectator, but it also undermines its credibility.

These criticisms aside, Les Uns et les autres is a bold artistic endeavour and should be considered one of Claude Lelouch's main achievements.  It lacks the structure and focus of the director's other operatic-scale features - Toute une vie (1974) and Édith et Marcel (1983) - but it is hard not to be caught up in the film's infectious exuberance. The enormity of the narrative has a Tolstoyan quality about it: epic in character yet showing a great deal of compassion for and understanding of the human spirit.  Amidst the grand set pieces (musical interludes which create a false impression of gaiety and optimism) are strewn the remnants of broken lives, wounds that are unseen, unhealed - a suggestion perhaps of Lelouch's own painful experiences during World War II.

Film Synopsis

Forty-five years of turmoil, passion and tragedy, seen through the eyes of two generations of four families.  In Moscow, 1936, an aspiring dancer Tatiana marries a man, Boris, who will give her a son just before he is killed during World War II.  In Berlin, Karl Kremer's success as a pianist is confirmed when he receives praise from Hitler - something which will haunt him throughout his life.  In Paris, a young violinist Anne falls in love with a Jewish pianist, Simon Meyer; they marry and produce a son, but they end up on a train bound for a Nazi concentration camp. In New York, Jack Glenn is making his name with his popular jazz band.  Twenty years on, their children are reliving their experiences, and Anne Meyer continues her hopeless quest to find the son she was forced to abandon.