Product Details

• Actors: Pierre Arditi, Sabine Azema, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Andre Dussollier, Agnes Jaoui
• Directors: Alan Resnais
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• DVD Release Date: March 31, 2009
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001GHCMRK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #414,779 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Same Old Song" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Winner of seven César Awards, SAME OLD SONG is a charming, romantic musical comedy directed by Alain Resnais (HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR and LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD), one of France's most acclaimed directors. SAME OLD SONG revolves around two Parisian sisters caught in a web of dysfunctional relationships and romantic confusion. In a tribute to the classic films of Dennis Potter (PENNIES FROM HEAVEN and THE SINGING DETECTIVE), Resnais has his characters lip-synch to fragments of musical recordings from Josephine Baker, Maurice Chevalier, Edith Piaf, Johnny Halliday and contemporary pop songs, allowing them to express their innermost thoughts and feelings. Set against the glittering Paris skyline, SAME OLD SONG is a captivating and playful, round-robin game of romance.

Featuring the songs of Josephine Baker, Maurice Chevalier, Edith Piaf and Johnny Halliday!

DVD Special Features:
- Theatrical trailer
- Enhanced for 16x9 TVs
- 5.1 Soundtrack
-Optional English Subtitles
- Scene Selections

"ENCHANTING ENTERTAINMENT." Andrew Sarris, THE NEW YORK OBSERVER

"FUN and DIFFERENT and at times MYSTERIOUS." Jonathan Rosenbaum, CHICAGO READER

"An ENGAGING adult romp... SMART and MEANINGFUL." Nicole Keefer, TIME OUT NEW YORK

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Resnais' lastest film, this is an outstanding musical comedy, December 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Same Old Song [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Although released in France in 1997 to nearly universal critical praise, outside of a few domestic film festivals, "Same Old Song" was only screened domestically last year (2000) in select film markets. I saw both showings in Seattle, and found myself thoroughly enchanted by this playful, yet somber, musical comedy by one of the greatest living directors. While Resnais long ago turned away from the self-reflexive, deconstructive style of "Last Year at Marienbad" and "Hiroshima Mon Amour," the 80s and 90s have seen perhaps his most innovative, if least watched, work. His last three films, "Smoking/No Smoking" and "Same Old Song," show that Resnais continues to explore new terrain, at an age when most directors, even great ones, often become rather nostalgic and banal. I spent the last year experimenting with different international releases of this film, all of which invariably suffered from subpar picture quality due to PAL conversion. Before the present release, the only NTSC version was an unsubtitled Canadian release, which had excellent colors but was pan and scan. If your video store does not carry this title, it is well worth the price tag. This first domestic video edition presents the film in widecreen format, with excellent subtitles. Now I am just waiting for the DVD release.

As for the film itself, it is outstanding, possibly Resnais' best film since "Life is a Bed of Roses" (1983), not to take anything away from "Smoking/No Smoking." If anything, "Same Old Song" reminds us that the Romantic Comedy genre should not be dismissed along with the latest Julia Roberts picture. I do not want to spoil the story. I will say only that the final thirty minutes, recalling the hypnotic filmmaking of Resnais' work from the early 60s, are absolutely breathtaking and feature some of the most beautiful images of jellyfish ever filmed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Film, when's the DVD coming out?, May 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Same Old Song [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Charming French Film, revolves around the love affiars of 2-3 people, some seeing old loves, others starting new loves, very well done.

The french "pop" songs, spliced sparingly through-out the film in moments of 30 sec - 1 minute. No dancing (!!! thank goodness) the songs range from the 1930's to the Present. With most of them skewing towards modern times.

Overall, good song choices if anyone knows the song sung in the dinner scene, where Nicholas visits Odile after 8 yrs. please, i'm still lookin wasn't on the French Soundtrack on amazon.co.fr please write it here. i'd pay top dollar for just that song.

I caught this film, back when I had the sundance channel for a while 2 yrs. back, I always had a blank VHS ready to go. Since they ran movies 3 times a week, if it looked intersting the first 2 times, I'd tape it. The beggining is where this film caught my eye. There's a vignette scene where a top German comander in France is ordered by Hitler via phone to destroy Paris in 24 hrs.

After hanging up the phone the comander sits down and opens his mouth and lip-syncs as an old-school record breaks out in the background and it says:

"Two loves of my life
my home and Paris
in times of strife
they set my heart free"

Just beautiful. As is the rest of the film. And then the rest of the film forwards to the mid 90's with the tour guide: the younger Camile sister says, [paraphrasing] "in that building the comander got orders to destroy Paris from Hitler, his motives for not doing so remain obscure." [paraphrasing] .....and then it heads into the realationships thing. When's the DVD coming out?

3.0 out of 5 stars Neither one thing nor the other, September 10, 2010

By 

Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Same Old Song ( On connaît la chanson ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ] (DVD)

On Connait la Chanson/Same Old Song is more a Jean-Claude Bacri-Agnes Jaoui movie than an Alain Resnais one. It's very much one of their comedies of social manners, somewhat slower to start than usual and stymied by the unfortunate device of having the characters sing snatches of popular French songs to articulate their thoughts. An acknowledged nod to Dennis Potter (to whom the film is dedicated), it simply doesn't work here, and not just because the cast are hopeless at miming (at times they don't even bother to move their lips). Unfortunately, apart from a couple of instances, we never get complete songs - sometimes we don't even get complete verses - leaving it with a feeling of cinematic indigestion rather than charm or wit: if it had had the guts to go all out with the songs, it probably would have worked, but here it just seems half-hearted and badly thought out.

Which is a pity, because once the various wheels are set in motion, it's a very likeable comedy with a few good performances - particularly Andre Dussolier (wonderful as a radio playwright/estate agent), Bacri and, in one brief scene, the ever dependable Jean-Pierre Darrousain. Some of the misunderstandings and embarrassments are painfully true to life (not least a romance built on one character misunderstanding another's cold for emotion) and there's a real affection for the characters. Unfortunately some of the women veer towards stereotype: Sabine Azema always threatens to turn into one of those pantomime bourgeois parodies Mike Leigh is so fond of and it's becoming increasingly obvious that Jaoui simply creates variations on the same part for herself in all her scripts. But there's still a lot to like about the film even if the songs do keep on getting in the way.