Frühes Versprechen (2017)

Frühes Versprechen: Directed by Eric Barbier. With Pierre Niney, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Didier Bourdon, Jean-Pierre Darroussin. From his childhood in Poland to his adolescence in Nice to his years as a student in Paris and his tough training as a pilot during World War II, this tragi-comedy tells the romantic story of Romain Gary, one of the most famous French novelists and sole writer to have won the Goncourt Prize for French literature two times.

“Based on novelist Romain Garyu0026#39;s biography,this is the second version of the writeru0026#39;s youth .In her husband Jules Dassinu0026#39;s 1970 movie, Melina Mercouri hammed it up,but did convince as this character of a Jewish mom ,and it was the main asset of this earlier work.That director ,in his last part of his career,was succumbing to the vices of European cinema of the era: the slow motion sequences ,which were very trendy then are almost unbearable today.Romain was played by no less than three different actors.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe same goes for the remake :a boy ,a teenager and a young man (Niney,thus,only appears in the second half);.Charlotte Gainsbourg reprises La Mère-Couri u0026#39;s role and compares favorably with her performance ,less histrionic,but always omnipresent -her arrival at the base is worth the price of admission-,ambitious ,demanding ,almost in love with her son (one never sees her have an affair with a single man ,though some of them (the painter, portrayed by the always reliable Darroussin)woo her .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLonger than the first version (101 min) ,this one (125 min) sometimes drags on and seems a little patchy and desultory but itu0026#39;s inherent in any biography ;sex scenes are more explicit (the initiation scene with the unexpected mom because of the coach incident is featured in both movies) .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWar scenes are much more developed than in the first adaptation ;it sometimes verges on ridicule : the aviator ,suffering from typhoid,crosses the hospital stark naked .u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTwo small details : two soldiers were actually denied their promotion,Romain was not the only one ,but it u0026#39;s less storylike on the paper,let alone on the screen.nThe 250 letters mom supposedly wrote are pure fiction; when he was in Africa, a telegram was sent to Romain who knew his dear one was dead when he came back to France.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe prologue in Mexico ,a bit gaudy , is a bit derivative:how many biographies were filmed as flashbacks?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll in all, you should see this remake ,but mainly for miss Gainsbourg ,in one of her best parts.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNB: When the first version was released,Gary was still alive ;hence the necessity to treat his material more gingerly.”