Amazon.com

Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman) tackles a giant canvas in the sprawling Les Uns et Les Autres, a movie full of brilliant actors and heartfelt moments. To make a coherent whole out of these elements would take a more profound director than Lelouch, however. Following dozens of characters from the 1930s through World War II and into the late '70s, Lelouch struggles to develop a grand theme based on sketchily developed people, all tied together with pop music and Ravel's evocatively used "Bolero." Not surprisingly, the sections dealing with Occupied Paris are the most compelling, with a poignant turn by Nicole Garcia (James Caan and Geraldine Chaplin, each in dual roles, hold down the U.S.-based segments). The film was well-received in Europe, although a cut U.S. release under the title Bolero flopped. If you stick around for the ambitious final sequence, look for an unknown Sharon Stone sitting in bed with Caan. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (2)

worth watching!
This movie takes me back to my childhood memories, with my mother and grandmom watching... i couldn't escape from watching and loving it! Although today i can realize it has some flaws, with a huge cast to support this II world war trough the 70's plot... it get lost a few times. James Caan and Geraldine Chaplin plays double characters which can be confusing. But still a good movie with a grand finale at the eiffel tower!

Very sensitive
This is probably the best Claude Lelouch. It is the story of all these people during the war. Lots of flashback beautiful Bolero de Ravel music. I just LOVED it ! ... Read more

Amazon.com

This smooth and smart French thriller combines Robert Altman's style of juggling multiple storylines with Alfred Hitchcock's genius for psychological tension. After Betty Fisher (Sandrine Kiberlain) loses her son to an accident, her mentally unstable mother (Nicole Garcia) kidnaps a similar-looking boy from a poor neighborhood of Paris, setting in motion a kaleidoscope of stories involving the kidnapped boy's trashy mother (who doesn't particularly miss the child), her boyfriend (who becomes the prime suspect in the investigation), the kidnapped boy's possible father (a gigolo whose current paramour cuts off funds), and Betty's ex-husband (a reptilian writer who tries to blackmail Betty into resuming their relationship). Intricate and completely involving, Alias Betty (also called Betty Fisher and Other Stories) is directed with consummate skill by Claude Miller. None of the actors try to make you like them, which makes this dazzling mix of difficult, foolish, and downright nasty people utterly fascinating. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Engaging, character-driven thriller
I am somehow reminded in the storyline of this film of the work of mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley; A Game for the Living, etc.) There is the same slightly genteel sense of mystery, realism and a women's point of view that characterizes Highsmith's work. In this case we have a young woman who loses her four-year-old son and then unexpectedly gains another. This intensely personal experience is set in the strata of contemporary French society. There are people in the projects, there is the underworld of petty criminals and prostitutes, and in contrast there are those who live in country homes beyond the suburbs. It is there that Betty, who is a novelist who has just published a best seller, lives.

What director Claude Miller has done with this material is to make it dramatic and to tell the story through the medium of film. That may seem obvious, but how many film makers fail to understand the differences in media and end up with too much talk and too little use of the camera to good effect? Miller shows us commonplace scenes of the projects and contrasts them with the fine homes of the well-to-do. He shows us the long limbs and slightly gawky beauty of his star, Sandrine Kiberlain, who plays Betty, and he contrasts her to the fleshy woman of the streets and bars, Carole Novacki (Mathide Seigner) who is the mother of the boy that Betty gains. He also compares and contrasts the craziness of Betty's mother Margot (played with a fine fidelity by Nicole Garcia) with similar, more muted manifestations in Betty herself. There are interiors of luxury and grace, and those of people living temporary lives in high rise block apartments. One gets a sense of France in the twenty-first century adding texture and place to a woman's story that could happen in almost any city in the world.

The opening scene shows Betty as a little girl on a train with her mother. We are told that her mother is suffering from some compulsive mental illness. We see her stab her daughter in the hand. And then we are fast-forwarded to the present and Betty is with her son Joseph, a scar on her hand, without a husband, going to her house in the countryside. Mother re-enters and we see that she is indeed a mental case, absurdity self-consumed and insensitive. When the boy falls out of a window and dies from the brain damage, Betty is in something close to catatonic shock, but her mother thinks only of her own welfare and seems indifferent to anything else.

And then comes the twist.

I won't describe what Margo does now because it is so interesting to see it unfold. At any rate, Betty is forced to come out of her depression and embrace new love and new responsibilities and to indeed commit a most criminal act, that of running away with another's child. And yet somehow we are made to feel--indeed the events of the plot compels us to feel--that she does the right thing in spite of her initial feelings and in spite of what would normally be right. Later on in the film there is another nice twist when the father of the dead boy returns and wants his share of Betty's success and fortune.

What I think many viewers will appreciate here is that the players look and act like real people, not like people from central casting. Alex Chatrian plays the second little boy and he is a charmer, and beautifully directed by Miller. Kiberlain's laconic and wistful portrayal of a woman with so many choices won her Best Actress awards at the Montreal and Chicago film festivals. She has the kind of beauty that grows on you, yet is not glamorous or glittery, but when she smiles, as she so seldom does in this movie, she lights up the whole screen. And Seigner looks like a common woman, not like a Hollywood star dressed up like a prostitute.

The men are also interesting and also very real. Luck Mervil, who plays Carole's boyfriend, is restrained like a volcano that one knows will eventually go off; and Stephane Freiss, who plays the father of the dead boy, and Edouard Baer who plays a scheming lower-class gigolo, are two very real varieties of men who prey on women.

The ending is witty and satisfying, and I can tell that Claude Miller has seen Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956) starring Sterling Hayden since part of this scene recalls the finale in that American film noir with the money flying out of a suitcase during a chase scene at an airport. Or perhaps that bit is from Rendell's novel (which I haven't read) and it is she who recalls Kubrick's film.

This is a thriller that manages to also be an engaging chick flick, if you will, a commingling of character and story that is in the best tradition of film making, and one of the best films I've seen in months.

wonderful french film
This is a wonderful example of a modernist suspense thriller. It keeps the viewer involved with a storyline that keeps you guessing yet also lets the viewer keep enough objectivity to evaluate the actions of the characters. It also has great visual design, esp. the use of color. Any film buff would appreciate how well put together this film is.

Terrifically Entertaining
I've always liked jigsaw puzzles. In my humble opinion, the universal appeal of the jigsaw puzzle is simple: it's the pleasant surprise at how all of the seemingly disjointed pieces fit nicely together into one compelling portrait.

Such is the case with the marvelously stylish French film, "Alias Betty."

Bridgette (played with winning subtlety by the lovely Sandrine Kiberlain), alias Betty, is a best-selling author who returns home to France, escaping the New York life she's led for several years. A return home means a reunion, of sorts, with her mother, an emotional sick woman unintentionally gifted in the art of psychological torture ... as well as a secret history of purely physical acts as well. However, the sudden death of Bridgette's young son, Joseph, sets into motion a series of cleverly arranged events -- a bit uneven in the film's first act only because not all of the characters -- nor the role they will inevitably play -- have been revealed. By the second act, the film manages to pull the viewer into its intricate web as the puzzle slowly begins to take shape, allowing the tension associated to one rather diabolical act -- the kidnapping of Jose to replace Bridgette's deceased Joseph -- becomes far more calculated and captivating.

The director manages to craft several storylines -- skillfully juggling the moments with only the assistance of miscellanous screen captures titling segments of the film, much like chapters of a book -- into one seamless whole. Despite some brief screen time for major participants in this well-drawn yarn, all of the actors are in top form, all purely driven by only the decisions their specifically designed characters could make.

Be warned: "Alias Betty" is not for everyone. The story's pacing is purposely plotted out to allow for each of the plot twists to evolve far more organically than most Americanized thrillers (don't look for any frenetic cuts or dramatically punctuating music), and the film's pleasant score softly weaves hand-in-hand with simple images. There is no 'rush to judgment' here. Consequently, there are no sudden moments of realization. This is a study in the psychology of character, and the tension is predicated on moments of character choices, not action. The film may frustrate some viewers who would've sacrificed such seemingly elementary subplots as Betty's ex-husband returning to reclaim his ex and even the seemingly unimportant police investigators struggling to find a single lead in Jose's disappearance.

However, the patient viewer will find reward in learning that every frame committed to the completed film serves its own purpose in the end ... once the picture behind the masterful jigsaw puzzle is finally revealed.

Intricate and compelling!
Anyone who is a fan of mystery writer Ruth Rendell knows that her novels are not that easy to adapt to film. That is because her books are propelled by psychological suspense and characters who are often driven by peculiar obsessions. That said, it is a delight to find a film based on her work that is done right! "Alias Betty" is based on one of Rendell's best books ("The Tree of Hands") and, as in most of her works, involves a host of characters from a variety of walks of life who find their lives interconnected in the most unpredictable circumstances. The acting and editing in this film is first rate and effectively achieves the remarkable atmosphere that Rendell's books do. Highly recommnended!

another kind of lost generation
Alias Betty consists of several interconnecting narrative strands. The central event which links all the various strands is a kidnapping but the real focus of the story is on the sorid cast of characters, each one darker than the last. The film is based on a Ruth Rendell novel and I suspect will best be appreciated by those who have a fondness for Rendells fiction which offers an assortment of damaged psychologies along with insights as to why they became the way they are. Claude Miller also did a tremendous adaption of a Patricia Highsmith novel This Sweet Sickness several years ago and Highsmith is also known for her particularly lucid analysis of very damaged people. I would rate This Sweet Sickness a bit higher than Alias Betty because that stories focus remains on only one or two characters and the psychoanalysis of the main character is disturbingly thorough. I'm not a big fan of films that try to juggle a dozen characters because the result is that each one is given only cursory treatment. I believe Rendell and Claude Miller are trying to show what a viscious cycle family dysfunction is and the film is effective in showing how one generation passes on its hurts to the next and I liked the irony involved in having the child kidnapped from a bad parent and put into the hands of a worthy one. This was certainly a clever way of showing that wrongs can in some cases be reversed. But when it comes to psychological mysteries I prefer the depth of concentration that comes with focus on just one or two psychologies. Rendell & Claude Miller however do a very competent job here of giving fleeting peripheral glimpses at a whole network of imperfect psychologies. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

What Film Should Be
This picture has compelling drama that ranks with the height of American film in the '40s and '50s and insightful intellectual themes that proves it to be a forerunner of modern works like "Waking Life." Thoroughly engaging, trying and reasonably positive in the end. A masterpiece.

Poor DVD quality aside, this release is WELL worth the price
There are certain directors whose films can survive even the worst video transfers, and Resnais is one of them. Not that New Yorker Video should not be chastized for giving us yet another scandalously poor video and audio transfer of a classic film. Rather, one should not let the poor DVD quality deter one from buying this DVD, as Resnais' MON ONCLE d'AMERIQUE is masterful and argueably the director's greatest achievement. To be completely honest, in my humble opinion Resnais is the greatest living director. For what it is worth, I have seen everyone of his feature films, including everything in the 80s and 90s, and I find this picture to be the most compelling. Having carried out his most rigorous investigation of the time and memory of personal consciousness in "Je T'aime, Je T'aime," Resnais' work in the 70s undergoes a gradual shift in emphasis toward a time and memory belonging to community. At the risk of sounding overly reductive, one might locate the decisive moment of this shift in "Providence," in which the radically subjective, stream of consciousness narrative is completely undermined in the film's epilogue. In reflecting on Mon Oncle d'Amerique, I think it is paramount that one sees the film in the context of this decisive shift (which is not to say that Resnais simply abandons his earlier project). The film produces some of the most extraordinary images of time and memory reconfigured from the standpoint of community, and argueably marks the director's crowning achievement. One need look no further than the opening sequence in which a camera circles around a canvas comprised of still shots from scenes in the film, such that already at the film's outset the viewer is confronted with an image of the whole.

Having laid out this context, I strongly disagree with the general presupposition, betrayed in Maltin's summary and many of the customer reviews below, that Resnais has somehow attempted here to illustrate the behavorial theories of Henri Laborit. Resnais himself (in the DVD notes) expressly rejects this reading, which is nowhere corraborated by the film itself. He explains that in the film he has tried to set the biologist's theories and the narrative side by side, such that the two elements can co-exist, without either one dominating the other. The unmistably ambivalent tone of the ending testifies to the success with which Resnais has executed this vision. The superb direction and screenplay are supported by an outstanding score and an excellent cast. I cannot recommend this DVD more highly.

Terrible audio and video.
I don't know about the actual movie... The DVD audio is just awful -- imagine the distortion you get when the volume is set higher than cheap computer speakers can handle, now imagine getting this distortion every time somebody speaks no matter what volume your tv is set at.

Also, people move at the wrong speed, and not even a "consistent" wrong speed. The subtitles are part of the picture; they can't be turned off.

Resnais' best film as far as I know.
I haven't seen 'Smoking and Non-Smoking' and not that singing film he did recently, but otherwise I'm pretty well informed about Resnais and amongst his other work I rank this film as being his best.

It lacks many of the 'arty' touches, that Resnais otherwise and most regrettfully endulges in. This one tells it to you straight - most people live lives that resembles what rats do in captivity or otherwise. The comparison is most amusing but there is a very serious side to it as well. In the end Resnais states: "As long as we do not realize that we use the cortex of our brains chiefly in order to dominant others, then nothing can change." Power'full' (powerless really, since directed against power) words indeed.

People break their necks in order to fit in or make a career, which in truth is as rediculous as when Stan Laurel speaks of it in that wonderful short "Their First Mistake". When will this madness of competition between people cease in order to leave room for a competition directed towards your own ability to enhance your consciousness instead? When will competition for competitions sake alone cease, a competition which does not even care about what it is competing about, as, for instance, present competition of market economy, which is just a competition about the 'skills' of cheating one another? That is the question and Resnais doesn't have the answer but at least he poses the question.

Minor Resnais
*Mon Oncle d'Amerique* is a smoothly crafted, occasionally funny, but ultimately rather thin exploration of the theories of behavioral psychologist Henri Laborit. Juxtaposing interviews with Laborit that feel like lectures with fictional scenes illustrating his theories, it all feels more than a touch diagrammatic. Laborit's ideas allow Resnais to explore his familiar interests in time and memory, but the film never escapes an air of cute pointlessness. The idea of mixing didactic material with fictional constructions is certainly intriguing, but this example of it isn't much more than a promising sketch.

Though certainly not "sketchy" or "unfinished." With the possible exception of the rather tepid *Je t'aime, Je t'aime,* Resnais seems incapable of making a film that isn't polished to the nines. Once again we're treated to the smooth camera moves of *Marienbad,* the artful editing of *Stavisky* and *Hiroshima, mon amour,* the lovely, delicate shots of the seaside first seen in *Muriel.* Although New Yorker's transfer is never much better than adequate (and would be improved considerably by being presented in a widescreen aspect ratio), it's good enough to prove to any doubters Resnais's consummate technical finesse.

Unfortunately, the film also supports the criticism frequently leveled against the director, that in the pursuit of exquisite form, he abandons all interest in character. I don't agree with this criticism. (Even if I did, I don't know why anyone feels comfortable dismissing "mere" formal perfection as if it were an everyday occurrence.) Nonetheless, with Laborit quietly intoning every few minutes, it's far too obvious that the characters are being pushed this way and that to fit his theories, walking through a demonstration rather than living convincing lives.

Maybe the film needs a bit more skepticism. There are sardonic touches at the edges. For example, when one character high on the bureaucratic ladder arrives at work, everyone in the hall he passes makes a point of shaking his hand. We realize he's fallen when he arrives and everyone looks away from him. There's nothing that undercuts Laborit's basic thesis, however. If Resnais felt as playful with the ideas as he does with the characters (he occasionally has them acting out their aggressions dressed in rat costume, for example), if he weren't so impressed and convinced by them, the film would have more spark. Instead, *Mon Oncle d'Amerique* is a neatly turned experiment, defined and limited by the validity of Laborit's theories. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

TV version
This is the censored version with all the cursing and graphic violence taken out. It may be the only available version which may make it worth something. It does not specify that it is the TV version anywhere so it is a bit of a deception. Pretty good movie if you are curious.

Lydon Performance Saves Film
The plot of this movie is truly intriguing; the acting by Harvey Keitel is fine; but if it weren't for John Lydon as Leo Smith, this pitiful mish-mosh of a so-called thriller would be unwatchable.

The lighting is so dark that it is hard to follow the action. The sound quality is terrible, and the plot twists and turns are so oddly paced that the tension is dissipated before the final scene. The one bright spot is Lydon's fresh and crisp portrayal of the rich psychopathic copkiller. Lydon is a natural actor, and does a great job injecting the right mix of youth and innocence with the aura of sick and dangerous obsessions. If you're a Lydon/Rotten fan, don't miss this; otherwise, forget it.

The Corrupt Lieutenant
Nine years before his raw, celebrated performance in "Bad Lieutenant", Harvey Keitel gave us another visceral portrayal of a corrupt cop in this Italian police thriller. From Harvey's fringe years in European Cinema, this highly original film pairs him opposite former Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten. Rotten, billed as John Lydon, is an obssessed loner and would-be cop killer conducting personal survellance on the police. He seeks out Lieutenant Fred O'Connor(Keitel), at O'Connor's posh Manhattan apartment that the Lieutenant has purchased with money amassed while on the take, to confess to a series of murders. From that point the two engage in a bizzare and engrossing psychological battle of wills. In "Corrupt", Keitel gives us a portrayal of a deeply conflicted man at odds with himself. Unlike the Bad Lieutenant, who undergoes a combustible emotional breakdown, O'Connor is a man slowly unraveling and Keitel expertly displays every slow painful moment. Along with his other early 80's films "Deathwatch" and "Bad Timing", "Corrupt" proves that Keitel was always giving top notch, emotionally invested, and highly credible performances, even if he wasn't always getting the notice he deserved for them.

If You're in Left Field, Catch It
Anyone expecting a typical crime drama, or even a Scorsese-esque Urban Anomie Saga w/ slick period soundtrack will be disappointed. This film is genuinely eccentric (not Tarantino-style faux weirdness), made under chaotic circumstances with intense philosophical earnestness. That earnestness, w/ the film's addled direction, can be achingly funny.

The highlights aren't just Lydon's tweaky, flat-voiced hamming or Keitel's poker face (w/ Lydon he's the funniest straight-man since Oliver Hardy). Check it out, the whole film was made in ROME! And they don't seem to care if you notice! Just count the loose plot ends, the obvious, clueless ad-libs, the supposedly tart one-liners that fall like little Hindenbergs. Watch for the scene where Keitel rotates a milk carton, on camera, because the label wasn't visible enough for the product placement. And then there's that "70's Country song," which is actually Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony played on wheezy folk guitar. These people had no idea what they were doing, but they weren't even trying to do it like anyone else. The result is somehow monumental.

Poorly directed film does not bely exceptional ending.
I ordered this film based solely on the fact that it stars John Lydon. Overall, the film is a bit of a bore, tedious and poorly directed. They kept on playing this stupid 70's country song throughout. However, the last 20 minutes are incredibly good, and the actual ending is haunting. John Lydon has some rough parts, but is overall a very good actor. With an acting class or two, he could be an excellent charachter actor. The film is worth seeing for Lydon's performance alone. Creepy! ... Read more