Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

tigerfish50 Odile, a schoolteacher war widow flees Paris with her 13YO son and 6YO daughter as the German army advances upon the city, and on the way she coldly rejects a wounded soldier's desperate pleas for a lift. Later, when the column of refugees are strafed by German fighters and her car is destroyed, they are rescued by a strange crew-cut young man, Yvan. Recognizing his talent for survival, the helpless mother and children attach themselves to him. They all move into a large abandoned house that he discovers in the remote countryside, whereupon the illiterate Yvan scavenges for food by trapping rabbits and stealing chickens from distant farms. Odile lies to her children to protect them from the horrors of war, but continues to distrust Yvan for his suspiciously obscure origins. Techine seems to portray each member of this displaced family selfishly engrossed in their own need, perhaps intending them to represent the fragmented French nation itself. When Odile asserts herself as the matriarch of this family, grudging bonds of affection begin to form - but the balance is upset when the outside world finally intrudes on their pastoral idyll, and the characters contradict their earlier behavior in strangely inconsistent ways. The resourceful Yvan's mysterious background is eventually revealed, only for Techine to impose an especially counter-intuitive destiny upon him. "Les Egares" is beautifully shot and is never less than absorbing, but the characters' emotional detachment becomes an obstacle to intense involvement in their story.

fvila Being French and somewhat interested in history, I think I can give my 2 bits on a few questions about this movie:Why does the kid sing a song in German? My idea is that because friendship between France and Germany is now so sacro-saint, the director felt the need to remind viewers that all this was past history and we are now the best of friends. I think this was necessary because of the very graphic and terrifying scenes of refugees being bombed by German planes.Historical movie or individual adventure? I think both. The story is one of individuals cut off from the rest of the world, but the atmosphere of chaos, of loss of values, of breakdown of civilization, of not knowing where to go or what to do, appears to be representative of the way the people who lived through the events felt about them. Gaspard Ulliel, who seems to appear out of nowhere, as if a product of the times, personifies very well this feeling of chaos. Some also lived that period as a holiday from their everyday lives - if they were unattached and could fend for themselves. Alphonse Boudard's autobiographical book "Les combattants du petit bonheur" captures that outlook.The fact that they are cut off from the rest of the world makes the movie more present, like something that could be happening here and now. Most of the time you don't get the usual distraction of local color - costumes, old cars, etc- to show that this really is the past. Personally I get annoyed at movies that use sepia coloring, or historical allusions like famous news radio broadcasts so that you can't forget for a moment the distance between then and now.Moreover I think this movie fits into a trend of recent studies of history. A lot of books or documentaries on historical events stress the importance of understanding individual experiences to get a glimpse of the big picture.

rosscinema Leave it to the French to make a film with an older woman and younger man and have World War II as it's backdrop but there is some real depth to the characterizations that make this more interesting than it seems on paper. Story takes place in France in 1940 where we see a widow and her two children flee Paris to escape the Nazi's and they are part of an exodus that is trying to make it's way south. Odile (Emmanuelle Beart) is a former school teacher who along with her 13 year old son Philippe (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet) and 9 year old daughter Cathy (Clemence Meyer) are traveling in their car until it is destroyed by planes and they end up hiding in the forest where they meet 17 year old Yvan (Gaspard Ulliel). Yvan says that his parents are dead and even though Odile is suspicious of the young man they follow him through the French countryside.*****SPOILER ALERT*****After traveling on foot they find an abandoned country home where they decide to stay until Odile can find a telephone but she doesn't know that Yvan has cut the telephone wires. Yvan hunts for rabbits and fishes and becomes the provider for his "New" family and slowly gains the trust of Odile. One night he blurts out that he loves her and wants to marry her but Odile knows this will never happen even though there is some definite sexual tension between them. Two soldiers show up one day and Yvan feels threatened and decides whether or not to kill them!This film is directed by Andre Techine who has become a very respected and admired director in France and his past films also show his patience in telling stories and allowing relationships to grow. He is aided greatly with the cinematography of Agnes Godard who captures beautifully the French countryside and there are some terrific shots of Beart by the windows with the lush landscape in the background. But at the core of this film is another enchanting performance by Beart who can show both toughness and nobility but still be vulnerable. She's not just another French beauty who came from the modeling circuit but a solid actress who has been slowly building an impressive resume. The script is interesting and it's because of the way it writes it's characters and early on we can see that the character Yvan has some hidden layers to him and that what he tells us is clearly not the truth and as the film continues we see that he has a dark past that he is trying to hide from. This film quietly and patiently shows us two characters that are escaping from something horrible and seeking to restart their lives and once again Beart is terrific.

writers_reign As a fan of WW11-based French movies I caught this one in Paris last month. In their wisdom the selection committee for the London Film Festival have ignored the slightly superior 'Bon Voyage', released earlier this year and plumped for this one under the dubious anglicized title 'Strayed'. Les Egares translates literally as 'The Misled', which is only slightly less cumbersome, though more accurate, than 'Strayed' which is ambiguous to say the least. What we have is Emmanuelle Beart playing down her chocolate-box beauty and giving us the harassed mother with two kids ducking and diving in Occupied France to avoid strafing by Stukas. Street-wise Yvan latches on to the family and because his live-off-the-land knowhow is invaluable Odile (Beart) tolerates him. They find an abandoned château and decide to tough it out for the duration which allows the uneasy sexual attraction to simmer nicely. Beart, who suffered the tragic loss of her real-life partner earlier this year, acquits herself well but overall the movie is low on the totem-pole of recent movies set against this backdrop - already this year, in addition to 'Bon Voyage', we have had (in France, that is) Effroyables Jardins (Strange Gardens) with Jacques Villeret and Andre Dussolier turning in great performances albeit in a much lighter vein, last year's Monsieur Batignole is also a contender while the one they all have to beat is Tavernier's standout 'Laissez-Passer'. In sum: see it for Beart and the photography.