Salubfoto
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Brainsbell
The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.
Kayden
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
leplatypus
For those who like the real France, this movie is a recommendation: it's not about Paris, fashion, artists or politicians but it's about provincial life, with old bricks, nature, simple life, historic furniture and lack of technology... I'm sure that today the locations are as old, as quiet as if time doesn't happen...The story is not that invented because my native land faced this same tragedy with the small town of Oradour: beastly, inhuman, bloody SS killed civilians, children, women, old people... I'm surprised to see that the tragedy comes so soon but for one time, all the flashbacks are pretty moving... The director is really inspired to involve the audience and honestly, Noiret has the part of his career while Romy is the usual shining / anxious wife...the DVD (without subtitles!!!) says that critics lament about the violence but it's another proof that those Parisian professionals have limited scope, skills and intelligence!!!
blom0344
I saw this on television some years after its cinematic release, more or less by chance. It took all the time up until Schindler's List before I witnessed such realistic violence again. This film is part love story and part Rambo and though cleverly filmed and staged it is a bit of a bewildering experience. It took weeks to shake off the image of the grizzly and sadistic way Romy Schneider met her end. I'm sure these kind of atrocities took place in occupied Europe,but it is another matter of having to put up with it on the screen. Noiret going Rambo style against the Germans is thrilling though a bit over-the-top. Lots of style, well acted, but too grizzly for me.
J_J_Gittes
I just watched Le vieux fusil by Robert Enrico in 35mm at the cinema (unfortunately dubbed into German) and it was a hell of a strange film. Philippe Noiret is great in the lead role, though totally unbelievable. First he marries Romy Schneider, and then he kills a dozen trained German soldiers one after the other single-handedly. The whole film basically knows only one sombre mood, and doesn't really add any (melo)drama to what is happening. Incredibly, this film won a César for best French film of the year (what the heck!? - in a year where Zulawski's L'important c'est d'aimer was eligible!!!) and was nominated for numerous more. While it was an interesting and worthwhile film, I can't possibly see why this Rambo-type revenge story was considered so great/important at the time it was made. At least I might have become a Noiret-fan through this. The film is all about Noiret, and Romy is only there as eye-candy or to explain the emotional turmoil of the lead character. She has to play her usual „slutty" role of a person with bipolar disorder and I can't help but wonder why she regularly chose those similar roles. Despite being a great actress, Enrico really doesn't give her much to work with (he is clearly no Zulawski...) but maybe she was eager to do a more light-hearted role after her phenomenal (and deservingly) César-winning performance in L'important c'est d'aimer. I watched the edited version that was released to German theaters in the 70s and was missing at least the full scene of Romy's death. Will I watch more Enrico? Possibly. Am I intrigued? Yes. But is this really a remarkable film? I don't quite think so. Nevertheless very much worth seeing because of its utterly peculiar and bizarre vibe.
jincent
The story telling is utterly convincing, and because of the flashback technique, we feel the emotion of the main character (Julien) as the drama unfolds. The suspense is keen and mounting. The viewer keeps asking with increasing intensity: is this what I would do in Julien's position? His mistakes make us groan, his successes make us cheer. His pathos makes us cry.
