MAZEL TOV OU LE MARIAGE (MARRY ME, MARRY ME)

France, 1969, 87 minutes, Colour.
Claude Berri, Elisabeth Wiener, Prudence Harrington, Gregoire Aslan, Betsy Blair.
Directed by Claude Berri.

Marry Me, Marry Me is one of Claude Berri’s earliest films. He won an Oscar for his short film Le Poulet. He then directed films for another forty years and was a prolific writer, producer and actor as well.

Many of his films are autobiographical. This is one of those. The main humour comes from the presentation of a Jewish wedding – French Jews, their lifestyle, community, the humour. Berri himself appears as the central character. As the decades went on, his films became much more serious – reaching a peak in the mid-1980s with his adaptations of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources.

1. How enjoyable a film, how entertaining? Did it represent real characters and real situations? How artificial in Its presentation? How serious, how comical?

2. The indications of the title? The serious side, the ironic side?

3. The film was autobiographical, from the experience of the writer-director. Was this evident? How authentic did it seem? The commentary on realism by someone who had observed these situations and characters?

4. How sympathetic a hero was Claude? His French background, Jewish background, his salesmanship, the strengths and weaknesses of his character? An uncertain young hero of the modern world? Was he personally sympathetic to the audience? How much did they reject him? How important was this for his subsequent history?

5. The film's establishing his relationship with Isabel? The fact that she was pregnant? His half-hearted love for her? His decision and lack of decision to marry her? His encounter with her family? The background of her family? His hesitation? His hurting her? How well drawn was the character of Isabel? How sympathetic? Audience sympathy towards her rather than towards Claude?

6. How well drawn were Isabel’s mother and father? Was there caricature in their portrayal? Their Belgian and wealthy background? The ethos of their way of life, the style? Their pressures on their daughter? The preparations for the marriage? Claude’s reaction to Isabel’s sister Marthe?

7. The Importance of the attention given to the wedding plans? All the excitement of the service, the hypocrisy of modern society and its emphasis on marriage. without proper understanding of motivations, of love? What comment was being made on these attitudes of society?

8. How real a character was Helene? Was her character well drawn? Did we see her through Claude’s infatuated eyes? What was the reason for the infatuation? How real was any element of love? The effect on Helene and her cancelling her engagement? The effect on Claude? The fact that It was a passing thing? Claude being left up in the air? How unsympathetic was he in this experience of his life?

9. Why did the marriage go ahead? How worthy were the motivations? The film spent much time on the portrayal of the weddings How well did it do this? The atmosphere of a Jewish wedding? The guests and their participation, the religious overtones, the music and the heritage and tradition?

10. The plot jumped five years. How effective was this? What had happened In the marriage? To Isabel? The children? What had Claude discovered about himself, his dreams, the nature of marriage and love, the possibility of happiness?

11. The response to the film of a French audience, Jewish audiences, continental audiences? To outside audiences? How valuable is this approach to marriage in the serious and light vein? How real and authentic did it seem? What insight into modern men and women and marriage?