Paul and Michelle (1974) User Reviews

Very Good for a Sequel

[consortpinguin · 9/10 · 23 February 2001]

"Paul and Michelle" begins three years after the title characters ended the story of "Friends." Although it is not as good as the original, the film comes together very well. In "Friends," a teen romantic classic, the British Paul and French Michelle ran away and lived together in a secluded romantic dream. In "Paul and Michelle," the couple must face the hardships and boredom of everyday life. They soon learn the responsibility of working for a living and bringing up the child they had in "Friends."

In the beginning, Michelle and daughter Sylvie, who was born in "Friends," are living with Gary, a young American businessman in a French coastal town. The three have an almost normal family life in which Sylvie has bonded with Gary.

Paul, now a college student, abandons academic life to search for Michelle. When he arrives in town, there is a very funny sequence when Paul keeps searching every street and shop for Michelle, and just keeps missing her every time. At last the two literally bump into each other on the street and embrace in a joyful reunion. The very gracious Gary, always knowing that Paul is the true love of Michelle's life, leaves to let Paul move into the apartment.

The main plot of the story is Paul and Michelle's brutal discovery that it is tough to make their romantic love work in the everyday world. Having been raised with wealth, Paul finds the life of a working man difficult as he takes a job as a meatcutter to support his family. Paul and Michelle work jobs in different shifts and take turns watching Sylvie. Their jobs tire them out and raising an active three-year old wears the romance very thin. Paul finds it very hard to bond with his long-lost daughter. Even though she calls him "Daddy," it is a long time until she loves him as much as she loved Gary. The director highlights these realities by inserting a number of flashbacks of "Friends" to contrast with their new life.

Paul misses his exciting student life. There is one anachronistic scene where Paul participates in a poor excuse for a 1960's style student riot that is broken up by the police. In a much more dramatic incident, Paul goes out to a bistro with a young woman friend, leaving Sylvie alone in the apartment. As you might guess, it isn't long before the active tyke gets out. When Michelle returns from work to find her daughter gone, and sees Paul outside with this woman, she nearly panics. Paul and Michelle have to chase all over town to rescue their daughter. Michelle is quite angry.

I can relate to this story more today than I did in 1974, now that I'm older, married with children, and have been working for a living for many years. "Paul and Michelle" is not the dreamy classic you saw in "Friends," but the movie will entertain you as it portrays the strains of growing up and trying to keep romance alive in the real world.

Cheftoni55 wanted to know what happened to Sean Bury?

[terra-02568 · 8/10 · 8 June 2015]

Here is an email I received from him a year ago (2014):

Firstly, may I thank you so much for taking the time to write to express how those films made you feel... It was all such a long time ago now. But it has lingered in the hearts of so many and I am always humbled to receive mails from those for whom it had a special meaning.   As you say Anicee was a very beautiful kind lady. I have just had my 60th birthday a few days ago.... and am still receiving very touching letters from all over the world. I keep the fond memories of the making of the film in my heart and so appreciate the touching response from those who, like you, have taken the trouble to write to me. I recently made contact with a chap in Thailand at scorpion DVDs ( @ Amazon) Nathan has been kind enough to sell me a few copies of "Friends" that was released by Paramount Japan (so I am led to believe). It might be worth your while looking him up and seeing if he has a suitable copy for your part of the world. I know the copies work here in the UK as my step grand daughters have recently finally got to see it.   P and M was never released on DVD as far as I am aware. I have no contact with the industry I used to know since the small part I played in the Bond film "The Spy who loved me"... and I only did that because Lewis Gilbert was kind enough to ring me and ask if I wanted a small part in it..... so more out of curiosity than serious professional commitment I did it... with my elder brother in it too!   I have absolutely no IT qualifications I'm afraid so an electronic signature would not be possible. I would be interested to know if you manage to get a copy that suits your machine there as I do get asked more and more.   I think the film captured a moment in time of 2 young kids growing up in real life..... and Lewis's very careful handling of not only the characters but also of Anicee and myself during the process of rehearsals and subsequent shooting. The wonderfully good fortune of Elton's music and the musical arrangement of Paul Buckmaster..... like so many things in life..... you can have the best ingredients in a cooking pot.... but you are never sure of the outcome. The result was I still think just a very sweet little film that caught a moment in time that resonated with so many.   I thank you from the bottom of my heart and wish you both a wonderful continuation of life.... and may joy and happiness follow both you and Judith all your days.   Kind regards and very humbled   Sean Bury

Here is yet another letter from Sean Bury when he was 60 years old...

[stephenborisoff · 10/10 · 23 May 2021]

Letter from Sean Bury:

Hi Stephen and Judith,

Please forgive me, but my Friend Anicee died nearly 10 years ago this coming November 6th... her wonderful husband rang me that same evening with a voice so full of deep sadness ... It was all I could do just to thank him and express my deepest empathy for him and all the children .... and even now I still find it painful to discuss, some days I can and some when I just just cannot..... this is a cannot day.

The pain never goes... as I am sure you know the feeling when you lose someone with whom you realise suddenly that you were very close to when you were at an important moment of growing up.

But you learn to live with it... then you realise that you haven't thought about her for the last few hours..... then a few days... then a whole week passes.

As I mentioned, sometimes in life things are best left the way they were.... I am a fervent believer it is part of the greater plan of things......

That last meeting we had nearly a year before in 2005 had been quite revealing to both of us.... and very moving in an emotional way. We were both amazed and also sorry to have lost contact for so long.... but that did not diminish our friendship or our respect for each other as very young professional actors all those years before.

I cannot hide it.... but neither of us was very fond of the other off screen... just mutual professional regard for the other.... no one believed us of course. We were always playing pranks on each other.... till it got out of hand. But that's for the book... that I hope may get published. ... But I am not holding my breath. As my dear Indian friend has taught me.... She says "If it is written in the sands of time..... then it will happen...... But the winds of time will one day erode even the faintest of memories of it's passing. But the heavens shall know it forever"..

Please don't be offended... But I left the acting life I once knew behind me so many years ago now.... This is a different chapter in my life..... like all of us.... we all have many chapters and at the very least one good story in us all. I am certainly blessed with so many wonderful memories... and that is where I would like to keep them. I learnt that to walk away from that wonderful magical life... was probably the best thing for me at that time. I still have no regrets ... in fact I still believe that I am the luckiest guy I know ! These days I work late shifts.... and I blend quietly into the background..... but the same message of love is still passed out through me.. maybe to a lot fewer people in one go these days... :) a far cry from that other Sean. But that's the only difference.

I shall write to Paramount Japan to see if they have any plans to clean up P&M VHS copy and to release it on DVD... But I doubt it.... I have very little influence over such matters.... But you never know till you try.

Keep the ideas flowing...... and may you both continue to love and give support to each other.... it's all way too short.

Love, light and magic.

Sean Bury.

Better than Expected

[gotoads · 8/10 · 2 September 2019]

I finally saw Paul & Michelle this weekend. A little Googling revealed that it can be found in streaming form. I had been looking for it since I saw 'Friends' around a decade ago. I searched that one out mainly because of the Elton John soundtrack. The song 'Friends' is actually an Elton & Bernie classic that has somehow slipped under the radar. Part of the reason probably being that the Friends album went out of print and it took a couple decades for it to finally make it on an official digital release (Rare Masters, 1992). All that aside, I watched 'Friends' and enjoyed the Elton music and of course the beauty of the Michelle character. It is very obvious that Anicée got the role on her looks alone. Her acting is pretty terrible but there is a sweetness to it, so we can cut her some slack. The 1970s were obviously a different time. In 2019 we certainly have controversial movies but members of the busybody community now totally overreact to coming-of-age films. But in 'Paul & Michelle' the characters are three years older and the taboo feel of the first film disappears. Anicée is still a lousy actress but she is featured nude multiple times, which will please those who appreciate such things. The story is unremarkable and rather cliche, but it does work. It has a genuine feel to it and it has heart, although there are corny moments that will make you laugh.

I do wonder if there were plans to make a sequel to this sequel. Three years later would have been 1977 and we could see Paul & Michelle getting into the disco scene. Or maybe they could have waited a decade and the new film could feature a 13-year-old Sylvie who is now discovering her own sexuality. The parents, who might now live in the States, would be completely freaking out in the "family values" Reagan-era. "Paul, whatever will we do with the precocious Sylvie?!" Sadly, Anicée has long since passed, and all we can do now is speculate as to what could have been.

Better acted, sad ending

[cheftoni55 · 17 March 2004]

**Spoilers** I haven't seen this movie in 15 years, and I remember it meaning so much to me, as I was around that age. My head was stuck firmly in the clouds, and I hoped I would find a boy like Paul, just to take me away from my life (well, he seemed quite the nice chap, no?) In any case, saw "Friends" and "Paul et Michelle" once again today (3/17/2004) back to back. I must say, the acting improved (well, at least for Anicee Alvina...Sean Bury was fairly decent in the first movie). Some of the scenes in both movies gave me quite a chuckle...they seemed so forced! But I suppose it is pretty hard to act that depth of emotion when you hardly know one another and having to take your clothes off. Overall, I marvelled at the subject matter...that *puppy love* would be seen as commonplace now.

The saddest part of both films is the end, of course, especially in the second one. *SPOILER* You know they will never see each other again. *sigh*

I wonder what ever happened to Sean Bury....? Looked all over the net, and came up with nothing.

All in all, watching these films was nicely escapist...

I want to make a comment about the music for the film

[earth22-926-863510 · 8/10 · 5 August 2014]

I disagree with a reviewer who says that the music from the first film is "dreck" and that the music of this sequel is even worse. First off, I am prejudiced because I and my wife-to-be used "Michelle's Song" (Cast a pebble on the water, watch the ripples slowly spreading...) for our Wedding! To each his own.

Actually, I found the melody of the song in Paul and Michelle to be very pretty, sweet... and ever so sad, particularly when played by a wind instrument at the very end of the movie! What I think that the other reviewer is noticing is the overly intellectual, just plain poor lyrics that go with that melody. The lyrics are too heavy and wordy and it kills the melody. The jazzy arrangement at the beginning of the film doesn't do justice to the melody, as the singer at the beginning of the film doesn't do justice to the melody either. So, on its own, the melody is not dreck or worse, it is hauntingly sad when played in its orchestral arrangement alone, but the lyrics and singing of the song using that tearful melody never should have happened!

Letter from Sean Bury

[stephenborisoff · 10/10 · 23 May 2021]

Here is a letter I received from Sean Bury about five years ago when he was about 60 years old. I don't have his email address any more:

Dear Stephen and Judith,

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to write to me. . . And thank you for making such an effort in compiling kind thoughts of people who were touched by "Friends".

I was such a lucky lad way back then, in my someone else ago days. You see, I have been more and more drawn to that period in my life just recently and in particular . . to the filming of "Friends", From people of a similar age to myself . . all sharing an awakening that the film seemed to touch at that moment in their lives. . . Indeed it was brought to my attention by a "Friend" of my own that it would seem to hold a nostalgic moment for so many.

Having been in the "business" since the tender age of 8, I realised from an early age that a production, be it Theatre, Radio or Film, is created very much by a team of people. Upon which it's success or failure depends, as much on timing, as anything else, "Friends" was of it's time, And it reminds those of us who care to remember that life was different then, simpler.. . I am not sure, but I am sure of the very fond memories during it's making and being part of all those who made "friends".

The film had such good luck to have Elton John and Bernie Taupin writing a few songs literally weeks prior to their meteoric rise to fame. . . With the wonderful craftsman Paul Buckmaster and his haunting orchestration to the theme.

As you say. . your question is dealing with the fictional lives of the characters Paul and Michelle. I had played with the idea of making the final sequence years later, but each time I started the creative process over 10 years ago now, I could not help thinking that some things are best left incomplete. . . My reasoning is that life as much as we would like it to be, is not very neat and tidy. I did not feel the risk was worth offending the memories of those who remembered Friends.

Paul and Michelle . . the follow on was made partly due to the fact that Friends had had such a huge commercial success in Asia and the far east notably Japan, it made sense to make a follow up. I was in discussions with Lewis to make another film straight after P&M . . "Seven nights in Japan". . . But I had already decided that my career in acting was not where my heart lay. So when he phoned me a few years later to ask me if I wanted a small role in a bond movie just as a bit of fun. . . I replied yes, but on one condition, my brother who had been classically trained as an actor at the "Bristol Old Vic" had not shared the same fortune of roles that I had. . and certainly no where near the good fortunes of the chap he shared his digs with there. . . Young chap called Jeremy Irons. . .wonder whatever happened to him ?. Would he (Lewis Gilbert) be willing to give my brother a job as well. . of course he said. . . So you see, at the tender age of 8 I made a film called "Beware of the dog" and my brother was in that with me, as well as "The Spy who loved me". . . . Some 13 years. . the span of my career as an actor!

Kind regards. Sean Bury.

Ps. . my dear friend is slowly wringing a book out of me (she is very patient) she is a bollywood film producer. .. and threatening to engage me as an Irish Guru in one of her up and coming productions if I do not hurry up the writing ! Paul wearing a turban and repeating mantras all day? Who knows. . . This is a strange world we all live in now, so very very far from the one Paul and Michelle lived in.

GREAT SEQUAL!

[Jade-20 · 10/10 · 8 April 2001]

CONTAINS SPOILER!!!! Although "Paul and Michelle" isn't as good as "Friends" as some would say it still holds its own. I actually saw this one before I saw the Friends. Anicee Alvina and Sean Bury still have good chemistry together. The thing about this movie that upset me was the ending. Why would the director wait three years to make a sequal and then in the end have the two seperate. I would have liked to see them stay together and get married. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes a love story. There are quite a few good moments in the movie. But it's not as magical as "Friends".

What happened next? - Spoilers

[moviewatcher2010 · 24 November 2003]

I rented "Friends" in the local video store and then learned that a sequel was actually made. No video store carried it so I had to spend $12.00 to find out what happened with Paul and Michelle.

My favorite part was their reunion, which fortunately, was not dragged out - when they are alone again, it reminded me of two people having an affair where reality is totally blocked out - you just want them to continue, and you don't want reality to come, but it does in due course. Sylvie, who is now three years old, is a really cute little girl, but just doesn't fit the picture when Paul and Michelle eventually return to the countryside cabin. Reality does come in true form when Paul goes back to college - what really ruined it was seeing him with another girl, considering all the trouble he went through to find Michelle again in the first place.

The movie ends with one main question - what the heck happens three years later? They seem to have a love for one another that will undoubtedly draw them together once again.

It is worth a look to see what happened with these star-crossed teenage lovers and how they matured physically in appearance. Truthfully, they both got much better looking.

A film with no real "raison d'etre"

[lazarillo · 15 April 2014]

This is the sequel to the unlikely 1971 hit "Friends", a movie about rich British boy living in Paris who meets a poor, orphaned French girl and runs off with her to "play house" in the countryside, only to end up with a child. It's three years later and Paul has just graduated as head boy from a tony private school and is planning to attend the Sorbonne in the fall. He decides to spend the summer seeking out Michelle and his illegitimate child (apparently they'd never heard of legally obligated child support in France at the time). He finds her living with another man (Keir Dullea), who is an accomplished judo master. Just when you think Paul is finally going to get his teeth kicked down his throat (after he takes Michelle to a cheap hotel for sex on their first get-reacquainted date), Dullea's character does something quite unbelievable instead which clears the way for the movie to needlessly cover the EXACT same ground it had already trod in the first film.

The best reason to see this film is no doubt beautiful French actress Anicee Alvina, who is obviously no less appealing here at 20 than she was at 17 in the earlier film. Once again, she has plenty of nude scenes (including a flashback) that are each, of course, completely essential to the plot. Far be it from me to complain about THAT, but by this time Alvina had begun to appear in deranged Alain Robbe-Grillet art/porn films and the above-par Italian giallo "Anima Persae", which make just as good of use her, but are also much more worthwhile viewing than this rather saccharine film. And Alvina also didn't have to speak English in those films. Usually, cute French girls with accents are even more sexy, but Alvina seems to speak English only phonetically in both of these movies, and it gets more than a little irritating.

I also can't rave about Elton John, who provided the surprising hit song for the first film, but the music in this sequel is much, much worse than even the worst dreck in the Elton John oeuvre. This film is not really a bad film, but it simply has no reason to really exist, no real "raison d'etre" (hey, I think my French is better than Alvina's English). They should probably have just quit while they were ahead. . .