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The Return of Martin Guerre dvd movie.

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French • Comedy
French • French New Wave

The Return of Martin Guerre
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	List Price: $14.98 *Features* • Color • Dolby • DVD-Video • Letterboxed • Widescreen • NTSC In Theaters : 10 June, 1983 DVD Release : 14 January, 1998
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The Return of Martin Guerre description
While many ugly Americans best remember Gerard Depardieu from late-'80s Hollywood fluff (and the less said about Green Card the better), his art-house reputation as a legitimate, conscientious actor was more than mere hype. The solid Return of Martin Guerre (Le Retour de Martin Guerre) stands as Depardieu's personal high-water mark: here, he was handed a well-written, nuanced role--one inviting a balanced display of intelligence, charismatic cool, and pure passion--and he makes the most of it. The narrative, set in medieval France during the Hundred Years' War, follows the alleged homecoming of a soldier after many years of absence. His wife (a structurally difficult role to portray with any skill, but played gamely here by the fetching Nathalie Baye) finds him such an improvement--both in the sack and otherwise--from the husband who left for the front that she ignores the villagers' suspicions that he is an impostor. The costumes and scenery are quite a bit better, and more historically responsible, than what we've all come to expect from period drama, and the logical flaws and obvious questions begged by the plot mechanics are smoothed out by director Daniel Vigne's steady hand with story art and cinematic pacing. The film was remade in English, and updated to the Reconstruction, in 1993 as Sommersby, starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster. See this original instead. --Miles Bethany

The Return of Martin Guerre Customer Reviews

♥♥♥♥♥

No Spoilers, Just A Review

I saw this film on VHS back in college, and can't say its release on DVD does a lot in terms of enhancing the experience of seeing it again, but it's an interesting story: up to a point. I know it's based on an actual event but were this a novel it'd be one of those of which I'd say it would've made a far better short story.

The question of whether the man who returns home from war in the 16th century is actually the same long-lost Martin who left his family years before, or an imposter, is intriguing for those who may not be in the know, but the time in between the introduction of the mystery and the conclusion doesn't feature much in the way of goings on. I think this could have been a much better movie had there been a greater effort to show rural village life during this period, or even had it aimed to become a love story. As it was it relied too heavily on its own central question (is it Martin or not?) to carry its whole running time, and there simply was not enough material to achieve that. It's also the kind of movie that doesn't offer much on a repeat viewing. (I got the DVD for someone as a gift, and watched it with him.) Gerard Depardieu was unusually sedate in the title role, and those who might not know about it should be aware that there is the typical quota of nudity you might expect in a European release.

One final note, this is the film that back in the 90's inspired an American remake called Sommersby, that starred Jodie Foster, James Earl Jones, and Richard Gere, although in that case the events were advanced in time to the post-American Civil War, and wholly invented, not based on historical fact.

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