Anyone at least little acquainted with French culture of the 60's knows that the yéyé movement played a significant role. Few films were made about it back then, Michel Boisrond's "Cherchez l'idole" (1964) being maybe the most significant of them from a cultural standpoint. A good twenty years were needed for director Ariel Zeitoun to examine this period with her film, "Souvenirs Souvenirs", one of the forgotten films of the 80's.
In 1962, the end of the Algerian war, a former musician, Rego (Christophe Malavoy) returns home, and tries to resurrect his career. His younger brother, Antoine (Pierre Loup-Rajot, who got the César for most promising actor for his role), is in love with his music teacher. His goal is to win her heart. In the course of the film, we follow these two brothers' attempts at making their dreams come true, meeting new characters along the way, from the strict principal of Antoine's school (Philippe Noiret), to Rego's rival (Claude Brasseur).
The film provided an excellent overview of the state of France in the early 60's. In the year the film was set, the yéyé movement had just found its feet, through the release of Françoise Hardy's "Tous les garçons et les filles". Zeitoun made this tour of old France even better by adding hits of the time in the film. Even its title is taken from a song by one of the most important yéyé singers, Johnny Hallyday. We are shown the youth of the time dancing in proms to the slow "Tous mes copains" by Sylvie Vartan, or twisting to songs by Les Chaussettes Noires. Their schools, strict, with disciplinarians as teachers, as exemplified by Philippe Noiret's character. In one scene, indicative of that, he slaps a student for addressing him using "Hi" instead of "Hello" (!). It was these teachers that complained about the rebellious nature of the yéyé, a movement symbolising France's will to forget the difficult times of the early post-war era and move on with a youthful energy.
The establishment, of course, still held on. As previously noted, the Algerian war took place during the early 60's, resulting in the utter defeat of France. In order to restore its reputation, the French army started to use singers who had reached the suitable age for army service, like Johnny Hallyday and Eddie Mitchell. They let them continue their career, but only if they posed with their army uniforms in the single and album covers. It was thought that the youth would support - and forgive - the army if their idols did so. Rego, the film's singer-hero, was not one of the lucky ones, and his career went downhill because of his lack of activity during his army service.
So, Rego and Antoine symbolised two different aspects of the French 60's society. Their portrayal by Malavoy and Rajot was excellent, especially Malavoy's performance was very satisfactory and showed the will of his ambitious hero to restore his former glory. Rajot's acting was also solid, but I think his César win for the role was a bit undeserving to him. As for the others, Brasseur and Noiret were already famous before this film for decades, and their characters didn't have any special qualities to distinguish them from their other work.
Still, Ariel Zeitoun's directorial debut was a charming work, showing admiration for this special decade of France's recent history. From the music, to the settings, to the performances, everything was well-chosen and, coupled with a little bit of nostalgia, resulted in a film that left lots of "Souvenirs Souvenirs".
In 1962, the end of the Algerian war, a former musician, Rego (Christophe Malavoy) returns home, and tries to resurrect his career. His younger brother, Antoine (Pierre Loup-Rajot, who got the César for most promising actor for his role), is in love with his music teacher. His goal is to win her heart. In the course of the film, we follow these two brothers' attempts at making their dreams come true, meeting new characters along the way, from the strict principal of Antoine's school (Philippe Noiret), to Rego's rival (Claude Brasseur).
The film provided an excellent overview of the state of France in the early 60's. In the year the film was set, the yéyé movement had just found its feet, through the release of Françoise Hardy's "Tous les garçons et les filles". Zeitoun made this tour of old France even better by adding hits of the time in the film. Even its title is taken from a song by one of the most important yéyé singers, Johnny Hallyday. We are shown the youth of the time dancing in proms to the slow "Tous mes copains" by Sylvie Vartan, or twisting to songs by Les Chaussettes Noires. Their schools, strict, with disciplinarians as teachers, as exemplified by Philippe Noiret's character. In one scene, indicative of that, he slaps a student for addressing him using "Hi" instead of "Hello" (!). It was these teachers that complained about the rebellious nature of the yéyé, a movement symbolising France's will to forget the difficult times of the early post-war era and move on with a youthful energy.
The establishment, of course, still held on. As previously noted, the Algerian war took place during the early 60's, resulting in the utter defeat of France. In order to restore its reputation, the French army started to use singers who had reached the suitable age for army service, like Johnny Hallyday and Eddie Mitchell. They let them continue their career, but only if they posed with their army uniforms in the single and album covers. It was thought that the youth would support - and forgive - the army if their idols did so. Rego, the film's singer-hero, was not one of the lucky ones, and his career went downhill because of his lack of activity during his army service.
So, Rego and Antoine symbolised two different aspects of the French 60's society. Their portrayal by Malavoy and Rajot was excellent, especially Malavoy's performance was very satisfactory and showed the will of his ambitious hero to restore his former glory. Rajot's acting was also solid, but I think his César win for the role was a bit undeserving to him. As for the others, Brasseur and Noiret were already famous before this film for decades, and their characters didn't have any special qualities to distinguish them from their other work.
Still, Ariel Zeitoun's directorial debut was a charming work, showing admiration for this special decade of France's recent history. From the music, to the settings, to the performances, everything was well-chosen and, coupled with a little bit of nostalgia, resulted in a film that left lots of "Souvenirs Souvenirs".