Rent The Sorrow and the Pity (1969)
3.9 of 5 from 123 ratings
4h 9min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Marcel Ophuls' four-and-a-half hour portrait of the French town of Clermont-Ferrand under German occupation from 1940-44 is one of the greatest documentaries ever made, as important as Claude Lanzmann's 'Shoah' in its value not just as a film but as an essential historical record in its own right - not least since its interviewees are all long dead. Describing the fall of France and the rise of the Resistance, with the aid of newly-shot interviews and eye-opening archive footage including newsreels and propaganda films, Ophuls painstakingly crafts a complex, nuanced picture of what really happened in France over this period. He also demolishes numerous self-serving national myths to such an extent that, although he made the film for French television, they wouldn't show it for over a decade. But, as he demonstrates again and again, the overwhelming majority of French citizens during this period weren't heroes, villains or cowards, but simply ordinary people trying to make the best of an impossible situation. And it's Ophuls' portrayal of these people, their hopes, their fears and their appalling moral quandaries, that remains unmatched in film history. - Actors:
- Georges Bidault, Matthäus Bleibinger, Charles Braun, Maurice Buckmaster, Emile Coulaudon, Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, René de Chambrun, Christian de la Mazière, Darquier de Pellepoix, Jacques Doriot, R. Du Jonchay, Jacques Duclos, Anthony Eden, Sgt. Evans, Marcel Fouche-Degliame, Raphael Geminiani, Alexis Grave, Louis Grave, Marius Klein, Georges Lamirand
- Directors:
- Marcel Ophüls
- Producers:
- André Harris, Alain de Sedouy
- Writers:
- André Harris, Marcel Ophüls
- Others:
- Marcel Ophüls
- Aka:
- Le chagrin et la pitié
- Studio:
- Arrow Films
- Genres:
- TV Documentaries, TV Political
- Countries:
- France
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 26/06/2017
- Run Time:
- 260 minutes
- Languages:
- French LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.66:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Interview with director Marcel Ophuls, filmed in 2004
- Le Nouveau Vendredi: The Sorrow and the Pity, a 55-minute debate that followed the film's belated 1981 French television premiere, in which Ophuls and historians Henri Amouroux and Alain Guerin discuss the film and the issues that it raises with an audience of students from Clermont-Ferrand
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Reviews (2) of The Sorrow and the Pity
Self preservation - The Sorrow and the Pity review by CP Customer
This film of a community under enemy occupation is a salutary lesson in human behaviour.
I am old enough to remember how we British reacted approvingly to the news that those French people who had consorted with the Germans during the war had been metaphorically, if not literally, tarred and feathered by their compatriots at the cessation of hostilities.
The passage of time has made me realise that the fraternisation which had occurred in France could, so easily, have happened here.
I commend this documentary film as a realistic commentary upon the human condition.
6 out of 6 members found this review helpful.
Important documentary with unreadable subtitles - The Sorrow and the Pity review by CD
Whoever did the subtitles on this edition needs a slap. Small white letters on a black and white film, utterly utterly unreadable much of the time. I recall seeing part of this film broadcast on terrestrial television many many years ago, and then the subtitles were superimposed on a black rectangle to make them properly visible.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.