Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Les choses de la vie Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 14, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Claude Sautet and Romy Schneider Duo.

According to the IMDb, Romy Schneider had 64 credits as an actress, though that list includes several television appearances, including (rather incredibly) two guest shots made on two consecutive weeks in 1969 on the then insanely popular Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (note that the link points to a DVD set, currently the only way that show is available on disc). While Schneider’s career lasted around thirty years, before her untimely death in 1982 at the tender age of 43, for those who are only prone to attending “American” movies (whether or not that appellation is completely appropriate in all instances), Schneider may be known due to only a relative handful of performances in films like The Trial, The Victors, The Cardinal, Good Neighbor Sam and perhaps especially What's New Pussycat?. Those films were all released over the course of just three years between 1962 and 1965, meaning Schneider’s “impact” on more cloistered American audiences watching only “native” films was relatively brief. While world cinema aficionados are probably no doubt aware of at least some (and quite possibly many) of Schneider’s many other performances, including in Luchino Visconti’s Ludwig, there are still a glut of international properties featuring Schneider that probably aren’t generally that well known on this side of the pond. Film Movement’s Film Movement Classics imprint has been coming to film lovers' aid in that regard with an increasing number of releases that have featured Schneider, including The Sissi Collection from a couple of years ago, and the newly released (and recently reviewed) L'important c'est d'aimer. Coming out at the same time as that last named film, this new two-fer aggregates a double feature of Schneider films that offer her in what became one of her more notable collaborations in the 1970s, with co-writer and director Claude Sautet.

Note: While no outright spoilers are posted below, there are certain elements of the plot of Les choses de la vie which have to be discussed in order to make sense of the film, and some may feel that that discussion at least verges on spoiler territory. Those with such concerns are encouraged to skip over the following comments.

One one level, Les choses de la vie is a pretty standard tale of that staple of French film (and maybe life), a ménage à trois, though the film is arguably a bit sneaky about this particular element. The film opens with some allusions to a catastrophic event (more about that in a moment), before finding couple Pierre (Michel Piccoli) and Hélène (Romy Schneider) in bed, and as the next series of scenes progresses, it’s at least implied that the two are married, and perhaps long married, though there is evidently still a “spark” between them. Only a bit later is it disclosed that Hélène is in fact Pierre’s mistress, though considering the state of Pierre’s marriage to Catherine (Lea Massari), Hélène may indeed be more of a constant companion than Pierre’s actual wife.

On another, structural, level, Les choses de la vie is a rather interesting viewing experience, since it uses the aforementioned calamity of a devastating car crash to play tricks with time. A lot of interstitial material is devoted to Pierre driving kind of madly through the French countryside on the way to a meeting and suffice it to say that while the timeline in this film is intentionally refracted, the journey does not end particularly well. Sautet continually ping pongs in the narrative, offering a number of vignettes that document the dysfunctions in all of the relationships between the focal trio, with quite a bit of the film given over to whether Pierre will choose to stay with Hélène or Catherine. The ultimate outcome of the horrifying accident is left until the film's closing moments, though an increasingly hallucinatory style may indicate at least some of the denouement(s).

While this film is often cited (including in a supplement on this disc) as being Sautet's first film to really click with both audiences and critics, it's perhaps comically just one of several films sometimes cited as a "comeback" for Romy Schneider, in what is at least testament to what a long career she had. She along with Piccoli and Massari are perfectly fine, giving relatively naturalistic performances (I found some of Piccoli's monologues in the car to be uneven, but part of that could be the writing), even though it can seem like these are types in search of specific characters (again perhaps due to the writing). Some of the detours (pun intended) the tale takes can be either scenic (a gorgeous flashback involving Île de Ré) or a little annoying (some people Pierre picks up). It's probably the film's structural artifice that gives Les choses de la vie its greatest interest, and in that regard it can be instructive to really dissect how Sautet doles out the "things" in these lives. It's probably not really classic "montage theory", but Sautet's approach may remind some of an at least somewhat similar editing strategy used in Stanley Donen's Two for the Road.

Les choses de la vie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Les choses de la vie is presented on Blu-ray Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Unfortunately, Film Movement only tends to offer generic "new digital restoration" verbiage in their insert booklets without providing any further information, but I was not able to dredge up any information online (including on StudioCanal's own site) about any even relatively recent restoration, and in fact about the only data point I could find mentioned several Sautet films having been "remastered", albeit in 2014, so I'm at a loss to provide much authoritative commentary on the provenance of the master. This presentation is another Film Movement offering where I had some passing issues with color timing, with things looking a tad cool and blue to my eyes, especially in some of the interior footage, though that said, there are some beautifully saturated and at least relatively more natural looking moments here, notably in the scenic sequence set in Île de Ré. As with César et Rosalie, blacks are also occasionally a bit on the milky, hazy side. Detail levels are generally very nice in close-ups and even some midrange shots. Grain resolves naturally, and I noticed no compression issues.

Les choses de la vie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Les choses de la vie features a nice sounding LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original French (with optional English subtitles). This film probably has a few more strident sound effects than César et Rosalie due to the careening wreck that is at the center of the story (and to which the film returns several times), but nothing sounds overly bright or brash. Dialogue and another nice score from Philippe Sarde all sound fine, without any issues whatsoever with regard to any age related distractions.

Les choses de la vie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Symphonie Metallique (480i; 48:22) is a really well done documentary charting the course of the film. This offers a ton of really fascinating interviews with a number of crew members, including Jean-Claude Sussfeld, Philippe Sarde, Jacqueline Thiedot, Geneviève Cortier, and Jean-Loup Dabodie.

As with most Film Movement releases, the disc also offers an About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which leads to text about and a trailer for Film Movement. The nicely appointed booklet contains an interesting essay by David N. Meyer.

Les choses de la vie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Les choses de la vie is at its core a kind of soap opera, but its structural ingenuity keeps the story compelling, even if the underlying foundation isn't that innovative. Schneider is sweet and understated in this film, and gives Les choses de la vie some emotional authenticity even despite some more melodramatic aspects. Technical merits are generally solid, and the accompanying featurette is quite interesting as well. Recommended.