L'ours (1988)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Jean-Jacques Annaud

Writers:

James Oliver Curwood (novel)
Gérard Brach (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 October 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Drama

Tagline:

He's an orphan... at the start of a journey. A journey to survive.

Plot:

An orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters.

Plot Keywords:

Bear | Bear Cub | Hunter | Nature | British Columbia

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Bart the Bear	...	The Kodiak Bear
Youk the Bear	...	The Bear Cub
Tchéky Karyo	...	Tom
Jack Wallace	...	Bill
André Lacombe	...	Le chasseur aux chiens

Directed by
Jean-Jacques Annaud

Writing credits
James Oliver Curwood		(novel "The Grizzly King")
Gérard Brach		(screenplay)

Produced by
Claude Berri	....	producer
Pierre Grunstein	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Philippe Sarde

Cinematography by
Philippe Rousselot

Film Editing by
Noëlle Boisson

Casting by
Mary Jo Slater

Production Design by
Toni Lüdi

Art Direction by
George Dietz
Antony Greengrow
Heidi Lüdi
Hans Jürgen Schmelzle

Set Decoration by
Bernhard Henrich

Costume Design by
Françoise Disle
Corinne Jorry

Production Management
Leonhard Gmür	....	production manager
Robin Mounsey	....	unit production manager: second unit
Kurt von Vietinghoff	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Xavier Castano	....	first assistant director
Xavier Castano	....	second unit director
Florian Nilson	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Michael Fechner	....	swing gang

Sound Department
Fabienne Alvarez-Giro	....	sound editor
Roberto Garzelli	....	sound editor
Bernard Leroux	....	sound re-recording mixer
Eric Mauer	....	sound editor
François Musy	....	sound mixer
Laurent Quaglio	....	sound designer
Jonathan Sorrell	....	synclavier operator
Claude Villand	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
Joachim Grüninger	....	animatronics technician
Uli Nefzer	....	floor supervisor

Visual Effects by
Frederic Moreau	....	optical effects
Bretislav Pojar	....	dream sequence animation
Rolf Giesen	....	visual effects consultant (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Luigi Bernardini	....	assistant camera
Dominique Delguste	....	additional second assistant camera
Arnaud Duboisberanger	....	cinematographer: second unit
Jérôme Peyrebrune	....	first assistant camera

Editorial Department
Eric LeGarçon	....	editor trainee
Yvan Lucas	....	color timer

Music Department
Billy Byers	....	orchestrator
Alexander Courage	....	orchestrator
William Flageollet	....	music mixer
Eric Lipmann	....	music consultant
Eric Mauer	....	composer: additional music
Laurent Quaglio	....	composer: additional music
Carlo Savina	....	conductor
Jonathan Sorrell	....	musician: keyboards and programming

Other crew
Monty Diamond	....	production consultant
Steve Martin	....	animal trainer
Marie-Florence Roncayolo	....	script supervisor
Doug Seus	....	bear trainer
Lynne Seus	....	bear trainer
Roman Stefanski	....	movement
Mak Wilson	....	lead puppeteer
Clint Youngreen	....	bear trainer

Production Companies

• Price
• Renn Productions

Distributors

• Cannes Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• LW Editora (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Transmundo Films (Argentina)
• Transmundo Home Video (THV) (Argentina) (video)
• TriStar Pictures (1989) (USA)

Special Effects

• Jim Henson's Creature Shop (animatronics) (as The Henson Company)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Other Companies

• London Symphony Orchestra, The (LSO)  orchestra
• Studios CTS  recording studio

Also Known As:

The Bear (USA)

Runtime:

94 min | Germany:85 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Portugal:M/6 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S | France:U | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Singapore:PG

Company:

Price

Trivia:

Because in the wild, male bears usually eat bear cubs if they can, the filmmakers prepared the adult Bart the Bear for the cub by having him play with a teddy bear the size and fur color of the cub. When the trainers felt he was ready, he was introduced to the cub and he greeted the cub affectionately.

Goofs:

Continuity: The rock that kills the mother bear is noticeably smaller than the boulder that rests atop the dead bear.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Bill: [examining bear tracks] That's a huge male; bet he's more'n fifteen hundred pounds.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: 15th Anniversary (1989) (TV)

The most majestic nature film of the century - pure escapism into the subtlety of life!

We rarely see in our contemporary world simple, subtle films regarding nature which in turn give us a true essence of the meaning and beauty of life. All we absorb out of proportion day by day from watching television and films is the violence, vulnerability and sexual tendencies of the human being. The 60's and 70's were infested with the drugs and sex appeal trend and the 80's crammed more action macho flicks than one can count sheep. However, it was the 90's and the turn of the millennium that exploded into the CGI craze and destroyed the film industry, reducing it into a commercial quick-produce supermarket in which quality films came close to none-existent and where violence was more popular than ever before.

A rare example of subtle contemporary masterful film making is 'L'Ours', better known in English translation as 'The Bear'. Jean-Jacques Annaud, the man behind the most extraordinary of prehistoric based films, 'Quest For Fire', stunned the world with his unparalleled mesmerizing vision of a natural world destroyed by man in what virtually is a film without dialogue. Yet it is an experience that will play with your emotions and warm your heart, right up to the chilling finale.

The story is set around the 1800's and revolves around an orphaned bear cub and its struggle to survive the harsh wilderness of British Columbia following the death of its mother. Alone and with no survival skills, the bear cub must learn the necessities of life the hard way. That is until it meets a tough, lone, but wounded Grizzly bear whose endeavor to survive is all the same after mountain hunters, blinded by their hunger for wealth, pursue their valuable skins. The two Grizzlies form a bond more powerful than the guns that pursue them in which the cub learns all the hardships of life first hand and grows to stand up for itself against the vast, relentless world that it lives in. Does man, the pursuer, become one with nature and understand the value of life?

Very few films without dialogue have captured the imagination that 'The Bear' has inscribed in my memory. Following the film's conclusion, I made a pledge to myself that one day I will be going to British Columbia myself. The cinematography was excruciatingly beautiful - I felt like I was there throughout the whole duration of the picture. The music was so uplifting and poignant throughout, that it completely drained me of my emotions - especially the finale!

Tcheky Karyo (famous French actor) playing one of the hunting mountain men who comes to terms with nature, plays his role convincingly, but there was no better performance than that of the starring bear cub and its much larger assistant. Their commanding presence leaves us laughing, crying and despising. All were simply natural expressions and worked on a documentary level, giving this film immaculate credibility.

The subtlest of all films I have ever seen, I recommend this to anybody who likes the occasional escape from reality to a world where life makes all the more sense. A definitive addition in my collection and an escape I will be taking for years to come. A masterwork of epic proportions and a classic in its genre. May the film industry bestow upon us more of these pleasures in the near future!