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À nous la liberté (1931)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
31 December 1931 (USA) moreTagline:
Le chef-d'oeuvre de René ClairPlot:
A famous left-wing satirical comedy about two ex-convicts, one of whom escaped jail and then worked his way up from salesman to factory owner... more | add synopsisAwards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins moreUser Comments:
Freedom for ever. moreCast
(Complete credited cast)| Henri Marchand | ... | Émile | |
| Raymond Cordy | ... | Louis | |
| Rolla France | ... | Jeanne | |
| Paul Ollivier | ... | L'oncle (as Paul Olivier) | |
| Jacques Shelly | ... | Paul | |
| André Michaud | ... | Le contremaitre | |
| Germaine Aussey | ... | Maud - la femme de Louis | |
| Léon Lorin | ... | Le vieux monsieur sourd | |
| William Burke | ... | L'ancien détenu | |
| Vincent Hyspa | ... | Le vieil orateur |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
À nous la liberté! (France) (alternative spelling)Freedom for Us (International: English title)
Liberty for Us (USA)
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Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
104 min | USA:83 min (re-release) | USA:97 minCountry:
FranceLanguage:
FrenchColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.20 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoFun Stuff
Trivia:
When Charles Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) premiered, the original distribution company of À nous la liberté, Tobis, wanted to sue. Director René Clair refused to join such a suit, saying that he considered it a compliment if Charles Chaplin based his film on René Clair's, but the suit went ahead nevertheless. Tobis, sued United Artists and Charles Chaplin for plagiarism. The suit, with separate segments in France and in the US, went on for more than a decade, right through WWII. Charles Chaplin, at the request of his lawyers, finally settled, but never admitted to the charge. René Clair stayed aloof from the affair, and he and Charles Chaplin, whom he greatly admired, remained friends. moreQuotes:
[first lines][Voice over Singer]: Liberty is the happy man's due / He enjoys love and skies of blue / But then there are some / Who no worse crimes have done / It's the sad story we tell / From a prison cell
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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for À nous la liberté (1931)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
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| Criterion logo inspired by a nous la liberte ? | punits |
| Uncredited music to Charles Trenet? | allisonalmodovar |
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Emile and Louis are two jailed friends who dream of freedom and plan to escape. Louis is successful and becomes a phonograph factory tycoon, after Emile finally breaks out he seeks work at Louis' factory. Tho initially the harshness of industrialisation keeps them poles apart, they both come to realise that friendship and being honest to oneself is far more rewarding than love or any sort of financial gain.
À nous la liberté {orginaly titled Liberté chérie} is a truly biting musical satire written and directed by the considerably talented René Clair. Filmed without a script, with Clair giving his actors free licence to improvise, the picture focuses on the dehumanisation of workers at an industrial plant. Shifting as it does from prison to this monstrosity place of work, the viewer is forced to wonder just exactly which is the prison of the picture?, for workers trundle in to work, punching in to a clock and sitting at a conveyor belt for hours on end, they are merely robots for this corporate machine, life is indeed desperately dull.
Clair pulls no punches in portraying everyone who doesn't work on the shop floor as greedy capitalist schemers, one sequence literally see the elite grasping for Francs strewn by the mounting storm. This wind of change also releases Emile and Louis from their respective constraints, and it's thru this change that we the viewer are rewarded with a truly uplifting ending that closes the film magnificently. The picture was a flop on its initial release, managing to offend parties from various corners of the globe, but now in this day and age the film has come to be hailed as something of a French masterpiece, coming some five years before Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times {Clair's camp even wanted to sue Chaplin for plagiarism, but Clair actually took it as a compliment}, this clearly is the template movie for industrial indictment. At times devilishly funny, at others poignantly sad, À nous la liberté is a cinematic gem that all serious film lovers should digest at least once, 9/10.