Just perfect...

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

French films are famous for their depiction of minor incidents which converge at a larger point to make up the most of what happens in the lives of people. This helps viewers to have a better idea of protagonists' lives. French director Claude Sautet chose to base his film on this premise as he films the personal as well as professional lives of a successful yet unhappy man. From a career point of view, actor Michel Piccoli is shown as somebody doing well in life as he is appreciated by everybody around him. However, his personal life is in turmoil as he is unable to decide between his wife and his mistress. As he is about to solve this dilemma, a tragedy unfolds in his life. This is hardly the description of an original story but what makes the film interesting is how it has been shot. Apart from describing in detail minor incidents related to the lives of protagonists, Claude Sautet has used all his imagination to film the accident scene which occupies a large part of this film's screen space. Finally, once the film is over, some viewers might be tempted to call it the most important moment of the film.

My title is borrowed from an album composed by the famous french singer Renaud who dedicated it in memory of his late friend, the famous french humorist and actor, Coluche who faced the same fate than the one depicted in the movie. In a way, the title of the movie says it all with wisdom: « the facts of life ». So, it's true: accidents happen , it's sad, it's meaningless, it's always too soon but we better accept this threat and live with it back in the mind. For example, i knew a young coworker who died suddenly in the office from a heart attack and in a way, it motivates me to leave my studio clean and to shower neatly every day as i wouldn't like to leave the feeling i lived as a pig if i had to go prematurely. In addition, the movie is a positive illustration of my « FFM » rule, exposed in my last review. Here, those « first five minutes » are clearly interesting and give the urge to see what happens. Sure, like « Carlito's way », you know at first how the movie will (almost) end but this premonition adds however a lot to the drama. It's all the more gripping that time is really distorted in the movie : it's slow, fast-forwarded, back to the past or to the future. At last, released in 1970, you can notice that french society was stricter then (for example, the law to free divorce was voted 5 years later !) and the charm of this old movie is that the cast is taken for granted : in other words, I just watch them for what they do on screen. Then, acting artists weren't polluted by promotions, selling images, pseudo social commitment or private life news. It's all the more essential that Romy is full of sensibility and Piccoli has a great stature too.

It is an experience. Rush, subtle, delicate and strange. A form of catharsis and source of restless questions.It is a beautiful film but not as aesthetic show or as object of loisir. In fact, it is a definition of life, social relations, ambiguity of love and search of happiness beyond classical definitions or Freudian symbols.In each life important it is pieces of puzzle. The respect for game rules, the science to be the favorite image of the other, the words as sentimental trap, the desire as essence of duty.For everybody the role of axis in family, society, hate or respect, expectations and illusions is more relevant than interior life. So, the masks are only way to be answer to expectations of other.It is a splendid film for the acting of Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli.For the Sautet mark.For dialogs and lights, for powerful suggestion art, for its message and definition of second life, for atmosphere and delicate art of existence sense discovery. About last hours and projection of lost world. About final silence and about shadows of the others. About structure of hope.

By watching this 1969 movie, I have just confirmed my opinion about Claude Sautet: that's one Director that takes the expectator "inside the scene" (As seen in his latest work: Nelly and Mr.Arnaud). He has this ability that allows him to "extract" the most of his characters in the psychologic aspect, by showing all the range of their feelings...Take the scene where Pierre Berard (portrayed by Michel Piccoli) tells Héléne (played by Romy Schneider) of his sudden decision of no longer accompany her on a trip planned ages ago. Another scene that worths appears in a record as a "Death Scenes Hall of Fame" is the one in which Pierre lays on the grass, his thoughs exposed as the expectator follows him, in all his emotional suffering. Claude Sautet: a Director that deserves having his name written in the "Hall of Fame of the Greatest Directors of All Times". As an "homage" to him, in a scale of 10, I grade this film 9.