Se souvenir des belles choses (2001) User Reviews

Inconnu Au Bataillon

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 24 April 2007]

Here's another eloquent example of an actress who decided to show her potential as a female director: Zabou Breitmann also known as Zabou, full stop. The topic of her premier film gives the inkling that she doesn't fear thorny subjects. Indeed, Alzeihmer's disease and the loss of memory are rather way off cinema's radar. But it's a film to remember which is also a prime example that love can be strong and survive to any disease.

"Se Souvenir Des Belles Choses" is split into two parts. The first one takes place in the institution for people with troubled memory. Before the anticipated meeting between the two lovers that Zabou delays, she takes her time to relate and describe life conditions in this institution for the sick people and the team of doctors and nurses. She delivers a not so despondent and warm description of this place and grants a meaty place to humor and tenderness. The second part starts with the returning of Christine and Philippe in the normal world and as the latter bit by bit recovers his memory, Christine's disease gathers pace and makes her lose her marks and collapse. These are two parts that follow each other and complement themselves.

The serious problem of Alzeihmer's disease is explored without tawdry fascination or unhealthy complacency but with a minimum of objectivity and lucidity. A good proportion of sequences or details directly or indirectly linked to it ring true like the instructions left on the white board or recorded on a tape for Christine or in the institution with these strips of colors indicating the way to specific places. Zabou also didn't forget the people's dangerous behaviors facing sick people with Alzeihmer's disease. See the sequence in the supermarket when Christine's mother gives her a meeting in a precise place and poor Christine loses herself.

Zabou was right to give the main role to Isabelle Carré whose role propelled her in the restrained circle of the new young luminaries of contemporary French cinema alongside Sylvie Testud among others. She gives a startling performance supported by Bernard Campan who managed to make me forget that he was once part of this irresistible comic trio the Inconnus. For their fans, who could have thought among them that he was able to act a man at a loss with a great credibility whereas he was so far usually typecast in comical roles? The female director Zabou relegated herself in a secondary role of analyst and her love affair with the director acted by Bernard Le Coq is one of the tiny glitches her film shelters which make it (the film) impossible to reject. This is one to remember.

Thanks For The Memory

[writers_reign · 10/10 · 24 October 2003]

This is, no contest, one of the finest movies to come out of France in the last five years and it would have been a grave miscarriage of justice if Isabelle Carre had not won a Best Actress Cesar for this role. I had seen Carre in several movies and found her competent but nothing special then, all at once the right career-defining role turns up and she shows what she can do. I can pay her no higher compliment than to compare her performance here to that of namesake Isabelle Huppert (the finest French actress bar none) in 'La Dentelliere' (The Lacemaker) with the proviso that Huppert was approximately 10 years younger than Carre when turning in her prize-winning performance. Carre is luminous and for virtually the whole of the running time she gives the impression of a real victim of Alzheimer's so that we feel we are watching a documentary rather than a film that has been scripted, shot and acted. The actors throughout are first rate, not least Bernand Campan as Carre's lover and protector. I saw the movie in an art-house in Balard last year (it's still playing there albeit only one or two screenings per week) and in September of this year I found it on DVD and can play it whenever I like. Out of ten stars it has to rate fifteen. One word description? Can't be done. Lyrical? In spades. Enthralling? And the rest. Magnifique? Doesn't come close. Thank you, Isabelle, Zabou, Campan, thank you for some unforgettable memories.

C'est extraordinaire: plein de beauté, amour, psychologie, et realité, mais attention, un peu deprimant.

[jeanannabanana · 10/10 · 31 March 2003]

Se Souvenir des Belles Choses: i can only even begin to describe the greatness of this movie and the impact it has made in mind. After months of anticipation, i saw this film in Richmond, Virginia, as a part of the 11th annual VCU French Film Festival at the Byrd Theatre. Warning: i cried for a good 45 minutes.

This is not to say the film was depressing. It was simply so moving.

With Isabelle Carré portraying the lead in brilliant form, Se Souvenir des Belles Choses (lit.: To Remember Beautiful Things) offers a truly amazing view into the world of mental hospitals, specifically dealing with memory loss and Alzheimer's patients. Two of these patients share a heartbreaking love story when symptoms worsen and improve.

Technically speaking, the film is a masterpiece. Do your best to see this one.

remembering the good things!

[blauesuse · 15 April 2003]

a great film! such a dark subject photographed in coloured pictures. i loved this rich detailed film without the expected stereotypes and a touching lovestory. it´s sad but it isn´t hopeless. the actors are so convincing and you start thinking about a disease you thought only old people could get. brilliant, that i hadn´t have the feeling of being voyeuristic! SEE IT: and think about it.

A simple tale about loss

[Itzamnaaj · 10/10 · 13 November 2008]

Be prepared: though rewarding, this movie may be difficult to watch.

The narrative structure is that of a linear tale: While Claire (Isabelle Carré) progressively loses memory and delves into oblivion through Alzheimer's disease, Pierre (Bernard Campan) comes back to life and, thanks to his love for her, oppositely recovers his memory, after the car accident that left him amnesiac and made him responsible for the death of his wife and kid. So their destinies are crossing: as she slowly loses herself, he will recover but unavoidably lose her.

The subject matter is parabolic. It not the disease or mental illness that is at hand, but the path of everyone's life; love is a blessing, but what is loved will be lost. Neither is it sad nor depressing, that is just so. "Always look on the bright side of life" sung the Monty Pythons in 'The life of Brian'.

The atmosphere of the movie is itself far from depressing: direction is voluntarily simple, sometimes even naive, helping to create a sense of familiarity on the viewer's side. Characters and dialogs, especially from ill people in the first part of the movie, are rather funny as well as touching. What may be difficult to bear is the gripping feelings, that will catch the viewer early on and leave him or her completely drenched by the end of the movie. Yet can the experience be renewed, retaining all its intensity. Along with first-rate acting, that makes this movie a timeless masterpiece.

As of Zabou Breitman, the director, I do not know what she lost in her life. But I am very grateful to her for sharing it with us in such a way.

A very good and touching story.

[zutterjp48 · 9/10 · 28 March 2020]

The cases of Alzheimer disease in senior people are quite known (we have the famous film "Still Alice with Julianne Moore), but in this film Claire Poussin, a quite young feels the first symptomes of this terrible disease and we shall follow her in her life. A brilliant film, a touching story. The performances of Isabelle Carré and Bernard Campan are really excellent. Thank you very much, Zabou Breitman for this very touching story.

Depressing

[hktelfords · 3/10 · 15 December 2002]

Saw this together with my wife. After 40 minutes, wife wanted to walk out. No, I said, it must get better. It didn't. By the end, you just want to stick your head in the oven. It's so depressing. No doubt dementia and amnesia are horrible things, but that's exactly why making a movie around them is a zero on the entertainment scale.

Interesting dissection of love and memory

[batongpilak · 26 June 2002]

**SPOILERS**Se Souvenir des Belles Choses is a really interesting dissection of what it means to be in love. And I mean really be in love, not the fleeting, easily discardable fancies we usually think to be the real thing. It means leaping past the difficulties of living with the other person's previous relationships, of putting up with all of your lover's neuroses, psychological disabilities, of how someday, she wouldn't even recognize you if she ran into you on the street.

The film started with this girl Claire Poussin checking herself into an institution. She was 32 years old, and seemed in perfect health. But one summer evening in the middle of a walk in the woods, a storm started and she was struck by lightning. Then she started having difficulties remembering things. She suspects she might have inherited Alzheimer's disease from her mother, who died from it. It couldn't possibly happen to her, her sister insists. But she submits herself to a series of tests, and meets a variety of people who really are troubled. There was a guy who wouldn't take baths and constantly wore his pajamas. To every question he would only reply "Up yours." Two elderly men spent their days bent over an unending game of chess. And there was Philippe, a nicely man with a scar his left eye. His wife and child died from a car accident, but he couldn't remember anything. He spent his time raking leaves and sniffing wine he stored under his bed.

One day, Philippe's parents visit him and his mother bursts into hysterics, blaming him for the deaths for which he couldn't even show remorse. At the canteen, Philippe catches Claire staring at him and he attacks her, screaming that she must blame him, like everyone does. How can you grieve for something you cannot remember? How can you feel an emotion when you don't have the memories to link them to?

There was this moment in the film where Philippe tried apologizing to Claire about his outburst. They were in the canteen, crowded as it were. But the way the director filmed them, with Philippe facing Claire against a background that was filled with light, they seemed to face each other, when in truth they were in separate tables. You could see how their smiles, hesitant at first, started to widen and brighten up their faces. You could see how Claire pushed the hair out of her eyes, and we could not help but see how graceful her hand was, how the slow start of a smile was enough to fill that canteen with light.

Then at the museum, they sit in front of this painting of an angel. Philippe sits beside Claire, and he starts to tell her about the story of the Angel of Oblivion. "When babies are born, they know everything that happened from the fall of man, to the plagues, I want to kiss you, to the great war, the creation of instant soup, I want to kiss you." Claire turns to him, "What was that you said?" He says he couldn't remember, then repeats it again. "Then the Angel touches the baby's lips, so he wouldn't remember. The baby has to learn everything all over again. What's left of the Angel's touch is this cleft right above your lips." Then he hushes her. They kiss.

We know that they were starting to fall in love. It's strange how our remembrance of things create our feelings. We remember love by the way our fingers brushed together, by how the light brings out the most brilliant smiles, and the gracefulness with which you brushed the hair out of your eyes. It's the little things which attach themselves like glue to our memory. And those are the little things that make us smile when we remember them. Se souvenir des belles choses. Try to remember the small beautiful things. It's what makes life worth living, even when things start to get difficult. Even when your ability to retain those memories begin to fade and disappear.

That was the very thing that Claire feared. She cannot remember things anymore. She doesn't have the word for these things. And how can you remember love when you cannot even remember your lover's face? She knew that her memory was going to fade soon, but she wanted her life to be worth living, and the only way was to be in love, and to be enveloped by that love.

It was a crazy thing for a woman who is starting to lose her memory to live with a man whose very painful memories are starting to surface. But they took the risk. Their apartment was filled with post-its and clocks. They wrote their itineraries, a per hour guide of the day's tasks. It's like learning things for the first time.

Philippe cannot remember how it was to be with a woman, even though he had a wife and child. Don't worry, it will come back to you, the doctor said. In time you will remember, the way you can never forget how to ride a bike. He was falling in love with Claire as though he were an adolescent experiencing it for the first time. Philippe's awe was fascinating to watch. If only we can retain that awe every time we fall in love, but then it would require losing our cynicism accumulated through the years. [Unless we all decide to have collective amnesia, but that would be too difficult. I digress.]

It warmed me to see how these two people worked hard at building their life together. Philippe would repeat every so often the route of how to get to the hospital and back home. He would outline it on a map on the wall, and enumerate every corner and bus stop, to make sure that Claire gets home safe.

It breaks me when Claire really started to lose her memory. She was trying to bake a cake for dinner. She needed three eggs: one, two, three, she counted. The second she put the eggs in the bowl, she would read the cookbook and see that she needed three eggs. Start all over again. It was funny at first, how she repeated things. Then we see her staring at the schedule on her blackboard: 6.30pm, light up the oven at 180 degrees. As she does so, she sees that she had not completed the task for 6pm, prepare the cake batter. She turns and sees that the eggs were still there. Over their candlelit dinner, we see Philippe crunching on burned buttercake. But he smiled all throughout, insisting it was delicious. Claire is not convinced, and comes back to the table with a bowl of sugar. She forgot to put in the sugar. "So what," says Philippe. "We had a sugarfree buttercake."

Any man who would willingly eat sugarfree buttercake and patiently prepare audio guides for me must be a treasure. Philippe is like that. He realizes that he was happy with Claire, and it doesn't matter if the bad memories are coming back. He wants to be happy and he's willing to work at it even when it's becoming obvious that Claire's condition is going worse.

Claire disappears after one of her hospital visits. Philippe has convinced her to use the audio guides he made for her, but after making a wrong turn she couldn't find her way back. She roams through the streets and ends up in an out of the way warehouse and into the woods. It starts to rain. Meanwhile, Philippe searches the city all over for her. When he finally finds her the following morning, Claire sits, babbling, dancing around, with a gone look in her eyes. She can't even recognize him. He shows her his scar. "This is your nicely man." He kisses her. "This is how I taste." He hushes her and tells her the story of the angel of oblivion. But she doesn't remember. Not even the beautiful things.