Product Details

• Actors: Miou-Miou, Isabelle Huppert, Guy Marchand, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Robin Renucci
• Directors: Diane Kurys
• Writers: Diane Kurys, Alain Le Henry
• Producers: Ariel Zeitoun
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Fox Lorber
• VHS Release Date: November 3, 1998
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1572523573
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,351 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Diane Kurys's 1983 film Entre Nous is a heartfelt love story about two women in postwar Lyon, France. Lena and Madeleine (Miou-Miou and Isabelle Huppert) are two young women living with the results of the desperate choices they made in order to survive the war against Germany. In 1952, Lena has two girls with the man who rescued her from the Jewish encampment; an enlisted man whose surname was supposed to offer her peace and security. Madeleine's love was shot to death days after their wedding as German soldiers crossed the demarcation line and came into town to take Jewish citizens to the concentration camps. Ten years later, she is now married unhappily to Costa (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a rogue who is forever trying to get rich on whatever scam he can concoct. The two young women meet at their children's school recital and become friends as each attempts to find fulfillment. As their friendship grows, they dream of opening a boutique together until their marriages, and subsequent financial security, deteriorate and the only comfort they can find is in each other's arms. Audiences may recognize Isabelle Huppert from Heaven's Gate and Madame Bovary and Kurys's work from A Man in Love. --Michele Goodson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Honest, sad, beautiful and very touching, April 22, 2001

By 

Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Entre Nous (English subtitles) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Michel (Guy Marchand) falls in love with Jewish refuge Lena (Isabelle Huppert) at first sight and offers marriage as a way she can avoid being sent to a German concentration camp. She accepts, and although she doesn't love him, they have two children and are still married when we pick up the action again in Lyons in 1952 when Lena is 29-years-old. There she meets the sophisticated and well-to-do artist Madeleine (Miou-Miou) who awakens her to the drabness of her existence as a housewife with a loutish husband who now runs a gas station. The attraction between Lena and Madeleine is very strong, and very threatening to the men, especially to Michel.

Huppert's poignant and bittersweet portrayal reminds me of her delicate work in Madame Bovary (1991). There is the same listlessness expressed along with a vague desire for something better out of life, and the anticipation of the sadness that we know will come of such desire. Miou-Miou is sharp and cynical with perhaps a streak of the manic-depressive about her. The love they spontaneously feel for one another is real and beautiful and makes us want it to be fulfilled. But Lena holds herself back because of her family, and then it is the men and propriety that get in the way.

Of course this is very French and Lena and Madeleine hold hands and comfort one another while telling each other their innermost secrets including the infidelities of their spouses, etc. (The men have no such communication.) Director Diane Kurys exercises more restraint in showing the physical nature of their mutual attraction than would be displayed today. Lena says to Madeleine at one point, "I want to kiss you," but we do not see them kissing. The most explicit scene sexually is the startling, but delicately expressed, meeting with the soldiers on the train where we discover the full extent of Lena's frustration.

This is not quite a great movie. The pace is a little slow in spots and sometimes the focus is not as sharp as it could be. But it is an extraordinarily honest movie, and I'll take that over sharp technique any day. Huppert is not only at her best here, but her exquisite and subtle beauty is shown to great advantage. Miou-Miou is also very pretty of course--this is the first time I've seen her--so I would say her strength of character is perhaps her strongest suit. This is a human tragedy on a small, intimate scale, one that we can't help but feel could have been averted had those involved understood one another better, had they been a little wiser. We've all been there before and so we can share the sadness and the sense of loss.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Love Story, February 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Entre Nous (English subtitles) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is an absolutely beautiful love story. If you are looking for explicit sex or sexuality however, you won't find it here. Instead this story is one that stays true to its contextual setting (World War II) and requires use of the imagination and appreciation for the restraint necessary for the survival of the women's deepening relationship.
"Entre Nous" actually develops the characters' backgrounds and personalities much more than contemporary lesbian film, resulting in an appreciation for their growing love and commitment to each other. It moves us slowly and deliciously into the growing attraction between the two women played by Isabelle Huppert and Miou-Miou, while not ignoring the barriers to consumation that exist between them (husbands, children, geography). Anyone who has fallen in love will remember the electricity inherent in courtship's beginnings: meeting the other's eyes and holding the gaze just long enough; lightly, even accidentally touching or brushing up against the person in a manner that brings on a jolt and that wonderful burning sensation.
"Entre Nous" translates to "Between Us" and suggests a core of privacy that we as viewers cannot enter. This story is told by Director Kurys who is child of Lena (played by Huppert) and we are allowed the be a part of their story and celebrate their love, but we are allowed to go only so far in order that their privacy be protected. It is truly a gorgeous story and will forever remain one of my favorite films of all time.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subtle and Moving Love Story, September 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Entre Nous [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is an absolutely beautiful love story. If you are looking for a modern grab and grope however, this isn't it. Instead this story is one that stays true to its contextual setting (World War II) and requires use of the imagination and appreciation for the restraint necessary for the survival of the women's relationship.
"Entre Nous" actually develops the characters' backgrounds and personalities much more than contemporary lesbian film. It moves us slowly and deliciously into the growing attraction between the two women played by Isabelle Huppert and Miou-Miou, while not ignoring the barriers to consumation that exist between them (husbands, children, geography). Anyone who has fallen in love will remember the electricity inherent in courtship's beginnings: meeting the other's eyes and holding the gaze just long enough; lightly, even accidentally touching or brushing up against the person in a manner that brings on a jolt and that wonderful burning sensation.
"Entre Nous" translates to "Between Us" and suggests a core of privacy that we as viewers cannot enter. This story is told by Director Kurys who is child of Lena (played by Huppert) and we are allowed the be a part of their story and celebrate their love, but we are allowed to go only so far in order that their privacy be protected. It is truly a gorgeous story and will forever remain one of my favorite films of any kind, of all time.