BON VOYAGE
France, 2003, 114 minutes, Colour.
Isabelle Adjani, Gerard Depardieu, Virginie Ledoyen, Yvan Attal, Gregori Derangere, Peter Coyote, Jean- Marc Stehle, Aurore Clement, Edith Scob, Nicolas Pignon.
Directed by Jean- Paul Rappeneau.
This is an unexpected film, both entertaining and challenging.
We are taken back to France, 1939-1940, and the outbreak of the war. This is a French film being highly critical of France and its citizens as they face (or refuse to face) the reality of the German invasion, the occupation of Paris and the establishing of the Vichy government as General De Gaulle goes into exile in Britain.
On the serious side, the film shows the dilemmas facing the authorities, the people of privilege escaping from Paris, desperate to get the best suites in the top hotels in Bordeaux, the activities of Nazi agents and their ruthlessness, the need for scientists involved in the preparing of heavy water to cross the channel to safety. Politically, this is very interesting with a French director inviting the French to think again about this era (and the subsequent complacency and collaboration as well as the Resistance). Gerard Depardieu plays an influential minister who is both patriotic as well as pragmatic and continually distracted by his affair with a prima donna film star. There is also a sub-plot with Virginie Ledoyen as a young scientist trying to spirit her professor out of France.
On the comic side, the film is always in a rush, characters continually moving, running, the camera tracking them, chasing them - often in the mode of French farce. Several of the characters act as if they are in a farce or a movie because this is the focus of their life rather than face the reality of war and its consequences. Isabelle Adjani pouts and poses convincingly as the self-centred film star. Gregori Derangere is a would-be novelist, infatuated with a puppy love for the star and even going to gaol for her, looking ingenuous most of the time. Yvan Attal is a petty criminal who sees how he might profit by the war (stealing stocks of expensive wine). Obviously, he is going to be the patriot rather than the effete upper class. Peter Coyote is the journalist who is a Nazi agent.
There are a number of supporting characters who fill out the complexity of what happened in those days. The film looks very good - we feel that we have been in the middle of all the crises, farcical episodes and heroism.
1.The acclaim for the film? The blend of the serious and the comic? A reflection on World War Two, France’s role, a variety of characters, partly good, partly evil? An attempt at honesty in retrospect?
2.1939-1940, Paris, the cinema and the arts, politics, society – moving into war? A fashionable world? A world of collaboration? A world of the movies? The contrast with Bordeaux? The politics, society, espionage, a crossroads, the ports, escape and dangers? The complexities of France at the beginning of World War Two?
3.How well did the film create the drama of war? The atmosphere of espionage? Yet highlighting the farcical aspects of the story? The perspective of the writer-director – eight years old at the time and remembering this past?
4.The musical score, the atmosphere of the period, the songs? The final film?
5.Audience response to the world of cinema? Viviane and her presence on screen, as a star, the lavish screenings and theatre, Etienne, the stalker? Living in a surreal world? Her problems? Wealth, celebrity? Yet the underlying violence? The cover-up of her killing? Her using her position and influence?
6.Viviane and Jean-Etienne? The aftermath, the affair, his being her protector? Killing the stalker? The nephew and the similar part of the plot? Her using Frederic, going to Bordeaux, the hotel, her lavish lifestyle, the lunches, her moods, turmoil? Involved in the espionage, the scandal? The dinner? With her friends, her change? The danger, the end? The spy and the truth? The film? The froth and the seriousness?
7.Jean-Etienne, his role as a minister in the government, self-seeking, the affair with Viviane, protecting her, going to Bordeaux? The secrecy? The request concerning the professor? The lunch meetings, his decisions, speeches, his decision not to help? The bargaining? The breaking of promises?
8.The world of the politicians, their meetings, the civil servants, loyalties? Resignations? The role of Marshal Putain? De Gaulle and the Free French?
9.Frederic and his style, the writing of the novel – and the blowing of the pages across the beach? His past, at Viviane’s beck and call, the car and the body, the accident? Going to jail? His encounter with Raoul in jail? The escape, going to Bordeaux? Settling accounts? The encounter with Camille, the issues? Being caught? The farcical aspects of the situation? Lunch, help, espionage? The encounters with Viviane? The change? Raoul, the vehicle? The issue of the professor and his escape? The boat? The novel and the old man? Going to England?
10.Raoul, his character, in prison, befriending Frederic? The autographs? The wine? Cheerful type? The authorities, the vehicle, saving the day, his death?
11.Camille, on the train? The development of her character, the plot? The professor, the issue of heavy water and atomic research? Her being frantic? Failure in trying to help him escape? The trip?
12.Peter Coyote as the journalist, his presence in Bordeaux, double-dealing, espionage?
13.The atmosphere of society in Bordeaux, friends, many escaping to Nice?
14.The ordinary people and the outbreak of the war, the landladies etc?
15.A film about war, France and its readiness or not? The impact of World War One? The retrospect of sixty years examining these aspects of French history? And the double aspects of French characters, loyalty, double-dealing?
