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MOVIES / ON DVD / THE WITNESSES
The Witnesses

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The Witnesses (2008)

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Reviews Counted: 34 Fresh: 29  Rotten:5 Average Rating: 6.9/10
 
Consensus: An engaging and realistic film about the early days of the AIDS epidemic. French director André Téchiné successfully weaves five gripping stories in an engaging and realistic film about the early days of the AIDS epidemic. more
 
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Synopsis:
Legendary French film director André Téchiné goes back to 1980s Paris in the tender, heartbreaking THE WITNESSES. Emmanuelle Beart (8 WOMEN) stars as Sarah, a children's book author who has just had her first child with husband Mehdi (Sami Bouajila), a vice cop. Sarah's doctor and close... [More]
Legendary French film director André Téchiné goes back to 1980s Paris in the tender, heartbreaking THE WITNESSES. Emmanuelle Beart (8 WOMEN) stars as Sarah, a children's book author who has just had her first child with husband Mehdi (Sami Bouajila), a vice cop. Sarah's doctor and close friend, Adrien (Michel Blanc), has fallen in love with the much younger Manu (Johan Libéreau), who enjoys being taken care of by the doctor but prefers a platonic relationship--and instead falls hard for Mehdi. Mehdi and Manu start a torrid sexual affair, but when Manu becomes ill with a mysterious disease, the complex entanglement between the four protagonists--as well as Sandra (Constance Dallé), a prostitute who befriends Manu, and Julie (Julie Deaprdieu), Manu's sister who wants to become an opera star--threatens to tear everything apart. Beart is outstanding as Sarah, a strong, independent woman who discovers while writing her first adult novel that she is not cut out to be a mother. Meanwhile, Adrien wants to be more than just a father figure to Manu. Sarah actually wants both she and Mehdi to have lovers, as long as they always come home to each other and don't fall in love with someone else--which becomes more complicated in these changing times. Téchiné (CHANGING TIMES, SCENE OF THE CRIME) sets THE WITNESSES at the very beginnings of the AIDS crisis in Paris, examining its effects on love, family, and friendship. The smart script, written with Laurent Guyot and Viviane Zingg, treats the subject with honesty and care. Philippe Sarde's minimalist score enhances the drama; the soundtrack also includes several arias and three songs by French pop duo Les Rita Mitsouko. [Less]

Genre: Foreign Films

Starring: Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Beart, Sami Bouajila, Julie Depardieu, Johan Libereau

Director: André Téchiné
Screenwriter: André Téchiné, Laurent Guyot, Viviane Zingg
Producer: Saďd Ben Saďd
Composer: Philippe Sarde

DVD Info

Release:

Dec 6, 2009

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Audio:

  • Unspecified - French
  • Subtitled - English

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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An engaging drama with superb performances, but it's slightly let down by an anti-climactic ending.

Full Review | Comment
10/19/07 03:15 AM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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Téchiné captures the changing attitudes of the times but some characters feel too peripheral.

Full Review | Comment
10/19/07 03:15 AM
Patrick Peters
Empire Magazine
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In Techine's nuance-sensitive Aids drama, the characters feel as real as they are multi-faceted - but they are rarely engaging.

Full Review | Comment
10/12/07 04:06 AM
Anton Bitel
Channel 4 Film
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Bristling with emotional intensity, this is far superior to earlier AIDS-related dramas such as the platitudinous Philadelphia.

Full Review | Comment
10/09/07 03:15 AM
Thomas Dawson
BBC
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The Witnesses doesn't pay off with a great operatic pinnacle, but it's better that way. Better to show people we care about facing facts they care desperately about, without the consolation of plot mechanics.

Full Review | Comment
05/16/08 11:32 AM
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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A rambling but often affecting account of the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

Full Review | Comment
04/03/08 03:23 PM
Josh Bell
Las Vegas Weekly
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Unyieldingly pleasant and way too fussy for its own good... so sunny and polite it makes Rent look like Cruising.

Full Review | Comment
03/17/08 05:22 PM
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly
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It becomes a movie about figuring out how to live a full life, and The Witnesses is necessarily a bittersweet one, since so many people who came of age in the '80s never had a chance.

Full Review | Comment
03/14/08 02:25 PM
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
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Director Andre Techine's story is one of subtle emotional tones that require the most of an actor, and the cast is uniformly compelling.

Full Review | Comment
03/13/08 05:30 PM
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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In The Witnesses, [director] Techine levels his gaze on the '80s, an era of seeming innocence, perhaps license, and one in which biological freedom has led to a loose, even sloppily knit fabric of humanity.

Full Review | Comment
03/13/08 02:58 PM
John Anderson
Washington Post
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Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
03/07/08 03:15 AM
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
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André Téchiné is a master at taking life experiences and stripping them of sentimentality, leaving us with only the bare-bones honesty of relationships and desire.

Full Review | Comment
03/03/08 12:11 AM
Beverly Berning
culturevulture.net
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André Téchiné is a master at taking life experiences and stripping them of sentimentality, leaving us with only the bare-bones honesty of relationships and desire.

Full Review | Comment
03/03/08 12:09 AM
Michael Wade Simpson
culturevulture.net
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What the characters in The Witnesses -- and the audience -- pay testimony to in André Téchiné's urgent, compassionate, and ultimately optimistic French drama are the toll the epidemic has rung, and the responsibility of the living to choose life.

Full Review | Comment
02/20/08 04:36 PM
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
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An ambling narrative, but an atmospheric one that feels authentic despite its unlikely character pairings.

Full Review | Comment
02/15/08 11:40 AM
Carina Chocano
Los Angeles Times
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It is a huge credit to the actors that we end up caring about these deeply flawed individuals.

Full Review | Comment
02/14/08 12:42 AM
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat
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Well-served by a varied cast.

Full Review | Comment
02/06/08 10:02 AM
Richard Mowe
Boxoffice Magazine
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This film need not be approached with dread or trepidation; life, as witnessed by this small group of flawed but always empathetic characters, is a messy, ugly, and unfair business, but sometimes still surprisingly wonderful.

Full Review | Comment
02/03/08 08:20 AM
Marcy Dermansky
About.com
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This depiction of the onslaught of AIDS is curiously pragmatic and a little clunky, but then again, perhaps it is time we all got a refresher course in AIDS awareness and its terrible consequences.

Full Review | Comment
02/01/08 01:34 PM
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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Some may think the metaphoric possibilities of an incurable illness that can be transmitted through sexual contact have been all but exhausted. Director André Téchiné almost proves otherwise in The Witnesses, a kind of film opera without music.

Full Review | Comment
02/01/08 01:30 PM
David Wiegand
San Francisco Chronicle
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