SEE YOU UP THERE (AU REVOIR LÀ-HAUT) |
ESQUIRE IMAX THEATRE In French with English subtitles. AWARDS - Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design & Best Production Design, 2018 César Awards. REVIEWS Dark comedy director Albert Dupontel surprises with this expansive post-WWI epic, which poignantly critiques France's mistreatment of those who served — especially the ones who survived. (...) Dupontel's film (...) accomplishes precisely what modern cinema seems to be lacking when old-timers complain that "they don't make 'em like they used to." Peter Debruge - Variety Every member of the cast is distinguished, with the director's portrayal of a sympathetic, almost Chaplinesque everyman particularly effective. David Stratton - The Australian Dupontel manages to deliver a rare object in contemporary French cinema: a commercial film that mixes high craft, surrealist humor and extremely dark themes - of trauma, death, corruption and manipulation - in ways that hold together rather well. Jordan Mintzer - Hollywood Reporter A sometimes melancholy, sometimes funny but always emotionally honest portrait of making do with the cards one is dealt. Lisa Nesselson - Screen Daily The story, with the flamboyant Edouard's creativity in full bloom, is an almost fantasy concoction of art, choreography, friendship and loyalty. And, love, too. Robin Clifford - Reeling Reviews |
November 1918. After four years in the trenches, the tired soldiers are awaiting the imminent news announcing the end of the war. But not everyone is happy about the return to peace, and when Lieutenant Pradelle (the charming Laurent Laffite, Number One Fan - SFFF 2015, Papa ou maman 1 & 2 – SFFF 2016 & 2017, Elle, portraying here one of cinema’s most cynical villains) receives news that the armistice has been signed, he keeps the news to himself and sends his men to battle one last time, for the fun of it. Among them are Albert Maillard (actor-director Albert Dupontel, Nine Month Stretch – SFFF 2014) a humble accountant, and Edouard Péricourt (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, BPM – SFFF 2018), an artist and heir to the powerful Pericourt family fortune. The two men have nothing in common except for the war that binds them together. When a bomb goes off nearby, Albert tumbles into a ditch, where he is buried beneath a cloud of dirt until he is pulled to safety by Edouard, who is blasted away moments later, losing his lower jaw in the process and becoming one of World War I’s “gueules cassées” (broken faces). 1919. While France is quick to honor its fallen soldiers by erecting war memorials in every town and village, it proves unwilling to support the veterans who returned home. Albert and Edouard can only rely on each other. Edouard, allowing his family to believe he is dead, remains holed up in their loft, where he creates elaborate papier-mâché masks (refusing the primitive plastic surgery the doctors offer him). Meanwhile, Albert runs a series of small-time scams to provide him with the morphine he desperately needs. They barely survive until Edouard comes up with an extravagant idea: set up a swindle by selling phony monuments to French towns looking to honor their war dead. Tackling serious subjects with a humorous touch, See You Up There is both a post-World War I epic – with a particularly spectacular opening battle scene – and a highly entertaining, dark and surrealist comedy led by the awkward but endearing Dupontel in his most ambitious film yet. Nominated for 13 César Awards, See You Up There won five, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Visually stunning, it will look magnificent on the giant IMAX screen! Shown with THE THWARTED (Les Empêchés) by Stéphanie Vasseur & Sandrine Terragno ESQUIRE IMAX THEATRE |
