Dir. Bertrand Tavernier, 2002, Fr/Ger/Sp, 170 mins, subtitles
Cast:
Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydes
Bertrand Tavernier's award-winning film explores the lives of French film workers during the German occupation. Based on the wartime experiences of director Jean Devaivre and screenwriter Jean Aurenche, Laissez-Passer depicts the parallel struggles of tow very different men to retain artistic and political integrity in a time when many were deeply compromised. Jacques Gamblin is excellent as the complex Devaivre, balancing the natural reserve and impulsive action of the family man whose work for the German-run Continental Film Company provided a cover for highly risky resistance activity. Aurenche is played by Denis Podalydes, who conveys the writer's chaotic emotional elegance (Aurenche lived out of suitcases, moving in with one of several mistresses on an almost daily basis) alongside his determination to evade the employ of Continental and painstaking effort produce scripts that covertly undermined Nazi ideals. Tavernier's beautifully detailed epic employs a large supporting cast and a great number of locations. The fear and panic in the streets of Paris during an air raid, and the alternately hectic and dull atmosphere of the film set, are particularly well rendered. There are brilliant comic moments, such as the harassed Devaivre's continuity concerns when he discovers that hungry extras have eaten the carefully arrange food for his next scene. The quiet horror of Nazi rule, of imprisonments and disappearances, is also skilfully expressed. In one measured and affecting episode a Jewish colleague whom Devaivre stops in the street, silently lifts his scarf to reveal the paper Star of David he is forced to wear. Combining drama, action, and gentle humour, this is a fascinating portrait both of a period of French history, and of the history of the cinema. Elizabeth Griffin |
