The Witnesses
by André Téchiné
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Emmanuelle Béart, Johan Libéreau, Julie Depardieu, Michel Blanc, Sami BouajilaDirector: André Téchiné
Writer: André Téchiné
Producer: Said Ben Said
Writer: Laurent Guyot
Writer: Vivian Zingg
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-06-24
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Strand Releasing
Movie Reviews of The Witnesses
Movie Review: MOVIEMAKING UP IN THE CLOUDS !!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I think of myself as someone who is so cinema aware, but this brilliant film escaped my attention until just this week. My title for the review is sort of a double entendre as the film reaches such heights of excellence and of course there are scenes up in a private plane that figures in as well. I had watched this movie now twice and it is so good on so many levels. In terms of the acting, there in no weak link. The way it was shot in both Paris and in the countryside is so rich and adds such a texture. The music is perfect, creates moods and the songs of that era give it extra ambience. It deals with the then sad affairs of AIDS during the early period with its hopelessness. The character of Manu, who is stricken with the plague, is played so brilliantly by the young actor Johan Libereau that you have a view into the phsyche of the tragedy of those times of someone dying of AIDS. The sparkle he shows earlier in the film before he is dealt this cruel blow is not there any longer, the boy has become so consumed with the expectation of death that he has skipped many decades to become and old man even if not chronologically.Early in the film and under happier circumstances Manu meets Adrien, an older gay men who he is not sexually attracted to, but feels a connection to as a friend. That role is wonderfully played by Michel Blanc who is short and bespeckled and frustrated in his own words that the only gay taboo is age. Adrien's maturity keeps most gay men at arm's length. The irony is that his inability to get laid makes him one of the lucky ones who does not contract this new terrifying disease. He makes all kinds of facial expression that indicate how jealous he is of the younger men, and his anger boils over that gay life is such a youth culture. Adrien is friends with a young couple Sarah and Mehdi, and they are portrayed beautifully by the actor Emmanuelle Beart who has such a haunting beauty and I knew her from elsewhere but couldn't place the film in my mind, but now know its "Eight Women" and the actor Sami Bouajila who I know from an equally brilliant but far less tragic film "The Adventures of Felix" We see him go from being youthful and having a magnetic sexual appeal in "Felix" to being a bit more grown up and some lines across his brow but when he smiles that sexiness and charisma just commands the screen. He is that man who so fascinates his writer wife Sarah and he becomes the lover of Manu, who is equally unable to resist him especially when he saves Manu's life in a swimming accident which draws them both erotically together accidentally. Of course as the story progresses and Adrien notices the tell tale signs of the new tragic plague on Manu's chest, the lesions, Manu isolates himself from Mehdi and retreats. This revelation of Manu's dire circumstances force Mehdi to confront his own possible brush with this nightmare, until he is elated to discover that both he and his wife are spared as their tests come back negative. Manu, who has retreated from Mehdi, thinking Mehdi would be upset by his haggard appearance reaches out to Adrien, who is also a doctor, and a researcher in the war on AIDS. Manu moves into Adrien's posh home and Adrien who could never attain Manu as a lover is now in the position to be his caregiver and he grabs the chance. Adrien explodes at Manu earlier in the film before they are aware of Manu's prognosis that he would chose Mehdi over him. He even brutally attacks Manu in a campground where Manu has taken a job outside Paris and also to have some down low encounters with Mehdi, who is a vice squad cop and got him the employment. Adrien does everything in his power to prevent the cop from seeing Manu, it seems as it it is twofold, he is furious at the cop (Mehdi) that he bedded Manu and had a lengthy affair, and also following the wishes of Manu who wants his caregiver to bar Mehdi from his life. I think also Manu, with his seemingly poor self image figures Mehdi only wanted him for sex so what is the point now? Add into the equation that due to the fact that Sarah and Mehdi have conducted an open relationship it comes out that Mehdi and Manu were lovers. Sarah, who also sought a blood test around the time her husband did, is fascinated by the love affiar between the two men and hopes it will help her writers block. Mehdi fearing for his career and also maybe some guilt over how Manu is doomed and he escaped demands she not write this, but she is determined to go ahead. One final scene with Sarah and Manu at Adrien's place shows Sarah and Manu alone talking about things and Manu asks her to kiss him which she bravely, for that time, obliges. She mentions how that kiss prompted her to go for her artistic dreams to record this love story come what may. She previously wrote children's books which were not fulfilling and she comments that she does not find children interesting. Manu of course passes away as Adrien is given at Manu's request the sad task to hasten the end of his life with an overdose of tranquilizers. The scene between Manu's sister who is also an opera singer, and I realize I have not mentioned, and his Mom at her country place is quite touching where they go after the death to console one another. Adrien is along bringing the sister. Just when you think the sad movie is about to end with the passing of Manu there is one more adventure to be played in the sun. After Adrien goes to the same park and bushes where he struck up a friendship with Manu years ago, he meets a handsome young American Canadian guy who is not put off my his lack of height, or age, or desperation and the two go to Adrien's place wher Adrien is just thinking he is doing the tall sexy man a favor by putting him up in Paris for a few nights is drawn into a romantic adventure. The young man invites himself sweetly into Adrien's bedroom, instead of sleeping in the guest room. This is no hustle or worse but a young guy who maybe had an experience with someone older and it is Adrien who is the suprised lucky fellow. The final scene shows them in the same country place which played a part in the earlier happier scene before Manu got ill, and Sarah and Mehdi and their one year old baby, and Adrien and his American pal all take a nice cruise out on a boat. The beauty of the photography is so special, a movie of such variety of moods and locales that you feel you know all there is know about these people. The richness and layers of this film enchanted me and made me aware of just how lucky we are that we live in a world today where AIDS is no longer the death sentence it once was. I am not aware if there were any Oscar or Cannes or Golden Globe or other bodies who recognized the extraordinary gifts of this film, but if not they should have at the very least applauded the noteworthy performance of Johan Libereau as Manu. I want to see what else this gifted young man has done. This movie has now gone to the within the list of my top ten favorite films of all time. Don't miss out on this treasure, there are not many movie experiences that come within miles of being this good. I also want to finally see what I have heard is a brilliant film " Wild Reeds" by this amazing director Andre Techine. Actually it would be a "crime" if Andre Techine has not been given a nomination or an award or two or twenty for this movie as well, for it is his golden baby. I see myself watching this many many times and each time will be as glorious as the first. If one wants another film equally good about AIDS especially of those dreadful early years of a true plague I highly recommend "And The Band Played On" and "Parting Glances" and of course "Longtime Companion" We can not bring back our dear friends, some who were just so close to being around for the cocktail of the late 90s, some who tragically died in their 20s or 30s, but when I see these films they truly honor the memory of these many many lovely men and women I lost and how brave they were in confronting their mortality with such grace. Why them, and not us, we are agonized with our survival and their not having a chance at a full life? There would never have been an cocktail of AIDS drugs without the harranging and unrelenting voices of ACT UP and other AIDS organizations that demanded not only the drugs be created but that governments should help those unable to pay the astounding costs thus creating ADAP programs in the states and the District of Columbia. These drug prices have stayed extremely high and I will be delighted when the patents expire and it will be legal to bring onto the market generic versions to help save more lives, with less greed involved. Health Care is a Human Right and should have nothing to do with the making of vast profits. I hope that I see this dream happen in my lifetime in the USA !!!
Summary of The Witnesses
Andr? T?chin?'s lush drama follows a close knit group of friends who are faced with the dawn of a sexual revolution in the early 1980's. The Witnesses tracks the relationship of a young writer played by Emmanuelle B?art (8 Women, Mission: Impossible, Strayed), her detective boyfriend, a reknown doctor and how their lives collide when a young, attractive gay man joins their circle. Set in Paris and the countryside, T?chin? blends the storylines and parallel lives with an erotic naturalism, yet never ignoring the consequences of sexual freedom.Similar DVD Movies
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