IMDb > Si c'était à refaire (1976) > IMDb user reviews
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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
If I Had To Watch It Again ..., 18 March 2007
8/10
Author: writers_reign from London, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

...and probably find more ways in which French movies differ from those of Hollywood. In Hollywood the chocolate boxes are mostly empty and the actresses look like Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Ann Bancroft etc. In France the actresses look like Michele Morgan, Micheline Presle, Edwige Feuillere, Danielle Darrieux, Manu Beart etc. And it's a pretty safe assumption that only in France would we see Catherine Deneuve and Anouk Aimee sharing a bed WITHOUT being lesbians. In some ways this is the Davis/Crawford movie that they never made. Consider: Davis is drugged and raped by her boss; her boyfriend decides to give him a thrashing that gets out of hand so much so that the boss runs out of breath; Davis and the boyfriend are sentenced to prison and the boyfriend kills himself. Davis decides the only way to assuage her grief is to have a child and prevails upon her lawyer to oblige; he declines so she seduces a male nurse in the hospital prison. Sixteen years later she is released and travels to see the son she has not seen since he was born. She gets a job, makes a new life, the boy accepts both her and the situation with equanimity then, out of the blue an old cell-mate, Crawford turns up, seduces the son, who meanwhile has selected his own father-figure in the shape of one of his schoolteacher and sets him up with his mother. You're absolutely correct, Hollywood would NEVER have done something like that but in France ... Claude Lelouch has a sweet tooth and a penchant for chocolate-box settings and though he never came close to equalling his breakthrough Un Homme et une femme he racked up an impressive tally of good-to-look-at movies. He also loves the camera as is evident in a scene towards the end where Deneuve is standing at a very long bar in conversation with her son's teacher; against the wall at the far end of the bar the son (Jean-Jacques Briot) is monitoring events with mom's old cell mate Sarah (Anouk Aimee) and Lelouch lets his camera Zoom in to Anouk and Zoom out to Deneuve several times, effectively splitting the screen in an unorthodox fashion. What began in the confines of a prison (we begin with Deneuve's release then flashback to the rape, killing, impregnating in prison) ends in the vast space of the Alps with four figures skiing out of sight and the camera registering freedom and fresh air. A young Jacques Villeret has a fine cameo as an estate agent and rounds out a very satisfying movie.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
The best years in life are those that lie ahead., 14 February 2003
9/10
Author: eva25at from Vienna, Austria

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

(Contains spoilers)

One morning the door of a prison cell is opened and a guard announces to convict number 70/13: You're free. A cab takes Catherine Berger (Catherine Deneuve) to the railroad station from where a train brings her to Aix-En-Provence - for the most important appointment of her life. The taxi-driver eyes her curiously through the rear-view-mirror and a fellow traveler tries to flirt with her. But all she can think of is her son: She is finally going to meet him for the first time since his birth 14 years ago.

She remembers the terrible events that cost her 16 years of her life: When she was 19, she worked as a secretary. Her boss offered her a glass of champagne, drugged and violated her. The revenge that Henri, her fiance, planned went terribly wrong. All he wanted was to beat up the rapist - but their efforts to make his accidental death look like a hold-up brought them 20 years in prison.

When Henry hangs himself, Catherine realizes that there is only one thing in life that can help her survive the next years: a child. Someone who will wait for her when she comes out of prison. Her lawyer (Charles Denner) is indignant when she tells him what "service" she expects of him and turns her down. In a female prison the selection of potential fathers is rather limited, but eventually she manages to single out an attractive male nurse...Simon, her son grows up in a children's home - Her lawyer helped to prevent an adoption.

Not many ex-convicts have this much luck: Catherines first destination brings her to Lucienne, Henris mother, who welcomes her as if she were her own daughter and helps her find a job. From now on Catherine is selling lamps, or, as she calls it: light. They invite Simon for the holidays. Catherine showers her son with presents, but only when his school-time is near does she feel able to tell him the truth. Simon goes to grammar-school and even locates his father. But the father of his choice is his smart and free-minded history teacher. However, the boy who accepted the changes in his life with admirable nonchalance behaves like a rascal at times. Whenever his mom has a liaison, he sends the gentleman in question an anonymous letter, revealing her past...

The mother-son relationship turns into a threesome when Sarah Gordon (Anouk Aimee), a notorious marriage impostor and Catherines former cell-mate, turns up and - as Catherine sees it - seduces her innocent boy. At least they're merciful enough to invite mom to take lodgings with them. Finally mom is ripe to meet the history teacher...

From a prison-cell to the peak of the Montblanc - This film makes it seem possible. Go into details and it seems implausible: A warden who tells a prisoner: "Goodbye Catherine. We grew quite fond of you". An ex-convict who finds a job immediately and is promoted to managing director within a year. A boy who grows up in an orphanage without suffering psychic damage (child-abuse and crack are not even mentioned - but we're in the french province). And yet - the result is so optimistic and life-affirming that it takes the wind out of the critic's sails. That's the reason feel-good-movies are made: watch it - and you feel good. This has been one of my favorite films since I've first seen it as a child. If an unhappy person would ask me which film I would recommand to cheer him/her up - Here is one of my choices.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
About the short movie..., 17 March 2002
Author: otreger from Paris, France

One thing about this movie: because Claude Lelouch (the director) is fond of fast cars, he shot a short movie, mandatorily bundled with the projection of the main title, showing a rendez-vous between a young man and his girl friend.

The man begins his race in Paris on the ring boulevard that borders Paris. Driving as fast 100mph in Paris (no special FX) without advising the Paris City Hall of his mad project, Claude Lelouch (who drives the car) runs 10-12km in the city in 7 minutes...

The movie has been shot using a camera installe on the front bumpers of a Mercedes 300SEL 6.9 because of the quality of the pneumatic shock absorbers (to avoid image vibrations).

Further, the soundtrack (engine noise) has been recorded doing the run AGAIN on a Ferrari 308GTB.

This guy is crazy!

(Source: Claude Lelouch himself during an interview on Paris Premiere French cable TV channel)

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2 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Reconstructing a life, 28 December 2001
7/10
Author: David Carbajales (carbajander@hotmail.com) from Gijón, Asturies, Spain

A woman is out of jail after 16 years of reclussion.She was convicted of assistance in the killing of a man: her boss in the bank where she worked. One day, this man: the director of the bank proposed her having a drink and he abused of her. The woman and her boyfriend killed the man accidentally and they became convicted. When she knew that her boyfriend committed suicide in jail, she made love with an unknown man until this moment for her with the ambition of having a baby: her unique leit-motiv in life since the reclussion. When she is out of jail, she gathered with her son: a teenager of 16 years. And they both together begin a new life. Her son seems to be delighted with his mother and searched for a new boyfriend for her: his history teacher in the highschool. A new happiness comes to the life of the woman. She got a good work, a brilliant son and a wonderful boyfriend.

Typical french film to report about the sexual pursuement in women with the typical french characters who never can't stop talking.

Anyway, a pleasant film to watch.

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