La vie devant soi (La vita davanti a sé) - Moshé Mizrahi

tratto dal libro di Romain Gary (ne avevo parlato qui), il film è nel complesso bello, credo inferiore al libro, anche se alcune cose sono meritevolissime.
grande interpretazione di Simone Signoret, che si offre, vecchia, alla

storia, nella quale lei e Momo sono l'anima.

da vedere, senza dubbio - Ismaele

QUI il film completo, in francese, con sottotitoli in inglese

  

Quasi un testamento spirituale della magnifica Simone Signoret, un tempo ragazza bellissima ("Casco d'oro"), poi donna segnata da una vita difficile, precocemente invecchiata, e tuttavia sempre attrice maiuscola e personalità indomita. In questo film c'è tutta la sofferta ebreità di Simone, intrecciata con gli ideali di apertura e internazionalismo che Simone aveva condiviso con il marito Yves Montand. 
Qualcuno ha accusato questo film di eccessiva 'teatralità', ma l'ambientazione chiusa, per non dire claustrofobica, contribuisce a restituire l'atmosfera opprimente e irrespirabile in cui si consuma questa tragedia dell'emarginazione, sino al finale straziante…

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…The film not only shines a light on racial intolerance in the present day (the most memorable scene is the one in which Momo’s father, a Muslim, has a cardiac arrest when he learns that his son has been brought up as a Jew), it also evokes painful memories of the Holocaust and France’s shameful complicity in the round up of Jews. Another taboo subject the film broaches, with surprising candour and daring, is that of euthanasia; four decades on, assisted suicide is one of the most hotly debated issues of our time, and the notion that everyone has the right to a dignified death is one that is powerfully expressed in the film.  The parallel between the torture inflicted on Jews by the Nazis in concentration camps and the suffering experienced by those being kept alive by artificial means in hospitals is crude to the point of being obscene but it does prompt the spectator to question the value of prolonging life for the sake of it.

La Vie devant soi touches on so many pertinent social themes and has so much to say to the present generation that it is surprising how little known the film is today. When it was released in 1977, it attracted an audience of two million in France and enjoyed a successful international showing.  As well as being nominated for three Césars, it won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1978.  It is a film that tackles a whole raft of controversial subjects with sensitivity and intelligence, and it is probably even more relevant today than when it was first seen. Mizrahi made a few notable films after this one, including Chère inconnue (1980) with Signoret, but none of these has that potent blend of compassion, insight and humanity that so powerfully illuminates La Vie devant soi and which makes it truly a film for our time.

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