Customer Reviews

The Return of Martin Guerre (Le retour de Martin Guerre) [IMPORTED, NTSC, All Regions ]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This film is based on a real incidents researched by historian Natalie Zemon Davis. In a French village during the 16th century reign of Francis the First, Martin Guerre, husband of the daughter of landed peasants, returns after an absence of years. He is heartily welcolmed, but soon a growing number of villagers question if this is really the true Martin.
Authorities investigate, but not before village families are bitterly divided.
The story brims with carefully recreated period detail: farm life, landed peasants, local priests, and French country social and legal custom. Such information is not generally available in books. I have viewed this dvd again and again; I see new and subtle detail each time.
If a story with such detail and superb acting could be done of England under Henry VIII, we would have a box office hit.

My World History professor showed this film in class, 3 years ago. I've always wanted to purchase it and am excited I have found it here. I won't go into details about what the story line is. You can read that for yourselves elsewhere. What I can tell you, is that this is a very accurate portrayal of life in 1500s France. Gérard Depardieu and Nathalie Baye are wonderful in this movie. I can't wait to get this movie and watch it again! The discussions after my history class watched it were wonderful. Trying to suss out why the wife testified the way she did led to some very interesting debates about the rights of women in France at the time.

A brief summary: "The Return of Martin Guerre" documents a strange sixteenth-century court case. A wealthy peasant, Martin Guerre, abandoned his wife and family and disappeared. Years later a man claiming to be Martin Guerre returned and resumed Martin's life. Later he was accused of being an imposter. On the point of winning his trial the real Martin Guerre appeared.

This is the story that "Summerbsy" is based; the American ending is much different. Great story, well acted, and the setting is truly 16th century.

I don't understand what one of the reviewer said that it only plays in PowerDVD (DVD-rom). My Korean import copy plays on regular DVD player just fine. Actually, it plays in my DVD player, my desktop DVD-rom, and in my laptop perfectly. Picture is clear and the sound is sharp. No complain whatsoever. Oh, yeah...good movie too.

The first time I saw this film, I needed a break from graduate school exams (in France). I did not particularly like Depardieu and knew nothing of the story. But once I was inside, I was amazed and left thinking it was one of the best films I had ever seen, a serious fan of Depardieu ever since. It is an extraordinarily vivid historical reconstruction of a true story, illuminating a tumultuous period of history with exceptional accuracy. You feel the texture of the life, with innumerable subtle allusions that deep reading in history can uncover - about the rights of women, law, the role of religion in everyday life, about identity and possibility - and the best of all: a completely absorbing story that keeps the viewer guessing the whole time.

The two principal characters, played by Depardieu and the astonishingly beautiful yet apparently plain Natalie Baye, are compelling in their love, having re-found each other. Martin Guerre, unhappy and unloving, had walked away from everything that he had: some land, a large extended family, and the obligations of his station. He returns after nearly a decade of war as a soldier in Spain, to welcome and forgiveness, fitting into the life of the village in his proper role. Martin and Bertrand have children, continue to work, and everything seems fine. Then some vagabonds arrive, who inadvertantly claim that Martin is not who he claims to be. This sows doubt in the village and gets tangled in some local politics and greed, leading to a law suit and threats of violence.

The story is framed by the investigation of a good, aristocratic magistrate who seeks to find the truth behind the allegations. Is it true? Or do the accusers have ulterior motives involving greed and corruption. It is utterly riveting and a mystery until the end. The personalities are well drawn and evolve throughout the course of the story - the viewer's perception of the all changes more than once. I just watched it with my children, who normally prefer computer games, and they watched in fascinated silence, except when they asked questions (the best reward of all!).

Warmly recommended. This is a classic, perfectly acted, distinctive, intricate.

First, a caveat: this film is in French with Korean subtitles; however, if you click on "subtitles" to start, you can get it with English subtitles which are quite adequate.

It is a fine filming of an essentially-true story from mid-sixteenth-century (ca 1540 - 1560) France. The only downside I noticed was some slips into flashforwards and flashbacks that left me momentarily confused. Good qualities more then compensated:

* the sets and costuming are excellent; historical advisor Natalie Zemon Davis must have advised the designers to consult contemporary painters - the Elder Brueghel is obvious - and it contributes much to the authentic feel of the tale

* the performances are thoroughly worked out to be convincing. So much has been posted on-line about this story of imposture, that I won't be giving the ending away by saying that both Martins were played with fine discrimination: the imposter (Gerard Depardieu, who received a French Academy Award for the role) and the real Guerre were sufficiently alike in appearance to be accepted by the audience, and sufficiently different in personality to make the ending credible, which is careful acting. Kudos also to whoever played the judge: he portrayed all the qualities of a man conscious of his responsibilities, without ever looking judgemental (which he was not suppposed to be). English-speakers are not used to seeing the roles of judge and detective combined (not quite Rumpole of the Bailey, shall we say?), but in 16th-century France they were, and that actor did it very nicely.

Five stars.

This film is required for comprehending the period from the perspective of the common late medieval peasant. And it's a very entertaining film. Based on the court records of the time, and filmed in France in French, with subtitles, it give AP European history students a real handle on the events.

So far, I've found this to be a horrible version of the film that I've only been able to play on PowerDVD DX since it's from Korea! I didn't notice that on the description or picture. Caveat Emptor