User reviews

It's wartime drama - WWII, with French and Jews and Germans, but this one is somehow fun, earnestly so. Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau co-wrote the script to his well-received film "Bon Voyage" (2003). Unlike director Bertrand Tavernier's "Safe Conduct" aka "Laissez-passer" (2002), w-d Rolf Schubel's "Gloomy Sunday" (1999), or w-d Claude Berri's "Lucie Aubrac" (1997), "Bon Voyage" is as chipper as its title sounds - c'est la vie (whatever) - and we have the beautiful talented Isabelle Adjani to thank for. It is her delightful performance throughout as the center of attraction (and attention), the cause and effect of it all, that made the film so enjoyable as it is. Hell, what's another derailment of her plan and expectations - will worry about that another time. The backbone of the story does revolve around a pair of young enthusiasts: Grégori Derangère as Frédéric and Virginie Ledoyen (from Francois Ozon's "8 Women") as Camille. The incomparable Gérard Depardieu, the witty Yvan Attal (of "My Wife is An Actress") and versatile Peter Coyote (juggling French, English and German here) are some of the stellar cast involved.

There are many characters coming and going in this plot of a movie, and how it's all juggled is a skilful knack that requires no analysis - Rappeneau is simply a genius. The story just builds upon itself, one episode after another, or even with overlapping events, but never confusing - that's the delight of it all, somehow every detail turns out right on the screen and we just lap it all up like a tastily presented French dessert, literally so. There's thrills, trills, tender hesitant moments and taut ominous escapes, all playing out in front of our eyes.

From reading the Director's Note on the Sony Pictures Classics' Bon Voyage official site, Rappeneau indicated this is his most personal and successful work ever. Depicting Bordeaux 1940 from memories of his childhood years is very much close to his heart and he "had worked and reworked the script for almost 3 years." This film is a labor of love all round, the cast and crew complementing the director's passion and a formidable script by collaborative writers along with the director and his son Julien - adaptation efforts by Gilles Marchand, Patrick Modiano, and Jérôme Tonnerre.

Music by Gabriel Yared (varied in tone from his previous film scores like "The English Patient" or "Talented Mr. Ripley"), who provided a befitting theme that kept the pace and rhythm of the plot going - almost like a train going non-stop, reflecting Adjani's Viviane's vivacious energy (even when she's tired), keeping her going as she meets whatever comes, walking on with head held high and stylish attire always, no looking back, let alone time for regrets.

Ah, mustn't forget the wonderfully translated, skilful subtitles by Ian Burley, who also did subtitles for films in Italian: "Bread and Tulips" (2000) aka Pane e tulipani, "The Last Kiss" (2001) aka L'ultimo bacio, and Tom Tykwer's "Heaven" (2002).

If you find this much too light a wartime relationship drama, try w-d Mäx Fäberböck's "Aimée and Jaguar" (1999, in German, based on a true story) with brilliant performances from Juliane Köhler as Aimée and Maria Schrader as Jaguar.

An interesting pairing of stories, this little flick manages to bring together seemingly different characters and story lines all in the backdrop of WWII and succeeds in tying them together without losing the audience. I was impressed by the depth portrayed by the different characters and also by how much I really felt I understood them and their motivations, even though the time spent on the development of each character was very limited. The outstanding acting abilities of the individuals involved with this picture are easily noted. A fun, stylized movie with a slew of comic moments and a bunch more head shaking events.

7/10

This movie was unique in the fact that it took place in the few months prior to and during the Nazi invasion of WWII. This gave the film a hectic atmosphere, as the French government and those surrounding it are in constant chaos while fleeing the approaching Blitzkrieg. For once we see the great disruption that war causes to millions of innocents, not just the horrors that occur on the front. However I don't agree with he genre characterization that it is a comedy- as it is a very entertaining blend of mystery, double-crossing and drama, as well as a few funny moments. Gerard Depardieu didn't have a overbearing role in the film, but played just one of the many interesting characters that are introduced. I was also surprised by Peter Coyote's French and German language skills - and I think it's worth commenting that an American was included in a French film - and I'm glad to say he held his own. Of course Ms. Adjani and Virginie Ledoyen play excellent roles- there's just something about those French ladies...

More and more french cinema demonstrates that's the only one able to confront Hollywood's, and to spend high amounts on money in their movies. If Bon Voyage had been made in the USA no one would be surprised. Perfectly set in France, in the 40's, when the Nazi invasion, technically irreproachable, and with some of the most international french actors (Depardieu, Adjani, Ledoyen...). Bon Voyage centerers on two parallel stories: an scientific and his disciple (Ledoyen) who tries to hide one of his discoveries (a kind of water that may work as an atomic bomb) from the Nazis; and a poor guy in love with a well known actress (Adjani), which ends up in prison accused of a crime he's not committed in order to protect her.

Bon Voyage seems to have been made in the old style, without unnecessary camera movements and effects. Without big turns in the plot. As I said before, regarding to the production itself they've made a great job. But the main problem with this movie is about the script. Is it a spy-movie? A romantic comedy? A spy comedy? A comedy of intrigue? It's not clear. That makes Bon Voyage a little unbalanced. When you think you're watching a comedy, suddenly changes to another story-line, a more dramatic one, more slow... I think they should've focused in one of the lines of argument (the one about the spy plot) and left the romantic parts in the background.

My rate: 6.5/10

This movie travels farther on 8 gunshots, 2 kisses and 100 clichés than should be possible. Yet it still works. Brilliant.

As I was driving home from the theater, I tried to figure out how it got away with movie staples like the pages of a novel manuscript blowing across a beach or the impossible series of fortuitous coincidences without the entire audience standing up and screaming, "I've seen that a million times before! And you've pushed beyond the edge of believability!" But the actors were so enchanting and the screen so filled with believable extras that I forgot to care. A friend who saw it with me said it transported him to Paris so perfectly that he was disappointed when we left the theater and realized we were still in Indiana.

Overall, a romantic-comedy-thriller with subtlety, wit and elan.

Bon Voyage is a film with a combination of story lines, though I think it is best described as a romantic historical adventure. Set in France during the second World War, this film brings together colourful characters each struggling to take their own path. Although set in dark times, there is an element of humour and some excellent chase scenes. Although thick with action, the movie is not complicated and it gets the pacing right most of the time. (However, some of the development of characters could be exaggerated more and the film could easily be longer.) The music and cinematography are also well done, and this is a type of movie that is enjoyable and difficult to find in today's world. It is thoroughly enjoyable.

In summary, the plot centres around a young French actress, who is prone to making mistakes and who knows how to use men. As a result of her actions, an innocent man is punished, and she has to live with the consequences of her actions, although harsh.

As a story and as a work of art, Bon Voyage is enjoyable. However, some of the characters could have developed more and the pacing could have been slower in some places. It's a good film, but it does cram a lot into a couple of hours, and because of this, the whole point of the film (in the conclusion) seems to be overlooked somewhat. Despite this, it is enjoyable and worth watching on an evening.

Director and auteur Jean-Pierre Rappenau was 8 years old during the spring of 1940 as France's Third Republic disintegrated in a matter of a few weeks. It was a time, he says, when "all the adults were a little bit insane." He and the production staff have lovingly and meticulously recreated that world in a film where all the characters are essentially fictional. The structure, a classic farce, is ideal for the period as multiple plot lines zip and intersect only to come together in a logical, satisfying conclusion. The peg for this plot is Frederic, played by brilliant newcomer Gregory Derangere, who is fully up to playing opposite Adjani, Depardieu and Ledoyen. The real strength of the film is in its supporting performances. M. Rappeneau has cast the film exquisitely with actors who volunteered ideas for both action and dialogue and who know and prove that it is possible to fully realize a character with just two short sentences of dialogue. Though not yet as widely influential as Renoir's 'Rules of the Game,' 'Bon Voyage' richly deserves to be a companion piece to that classic. Though it demands a lot of the audience, it gives much back. One of its demands is tolerance for a certain coyness and misdirection as to the exact genre we are watching: a crime melodrama, no, a spy thriller, ah, a romantic comedy. Recommend it to cinemaphile friends. Just be sure to let them discover for themselves that it is a romantic comedy.

A good thing about Bon Voyage is that it is never boring. Jean-Paul Rappeneau did a good job keeping our attention by continuously adding interesting turns to the plot, keeping a light suspense for the entire duration of the movie. The acting is what to expect from big names like Isabelle Adjani and Gérard Depardieu, it's all very professional and enjoyable to watch. The whole cast contributed in making Bon Voyage a good French movie, easy to watch for everybody.

`Bon Voyage' is a light-hearted and light-headed action adventure slash romance set in quite a dramatic time: French surrendering to the Nazis and the cowardly collaboration of the Vichy government.

But this is no `pianist': Rappenau plays with the genre and the period, making a film about the forties shot in campy, sometimes funny 40s style. Great concept, except it has been done, and better, and more than 20 years ago. Bon Voyage tries the romance, the adventure and the period references and fails every step of the way.

Gerard Depardieux delivers a colorless interpretation as the Minister of the Interiors that loses his head for an actress (Isabella Adjani) involved in what makes the plot twist and turn. Thankfully Grégori Derangère's character tells us at some point that the old Gerard is supposed to represent an opportunistic man always ready to switch alliance. By that time, however, Depardieux's time on the screen is mostly gone, and hopefully soon forgotten. It was fun to see Peter Coyote back as a Nazi spy. I had not seem him doing somebody so devious since Lune de Fiel.

But it's just not enough: what is left is a fun script, and a great plot that comes together more or less in the second part of the movie, making the mandatory coincidences seem not completely forced and artificial, and some action Rappenau is pretty good at, as in L'Hussard sur le toit). The man is ready for Hollywood, and believe moi, this is not a compliment.

In Paris, a few months before the Nazi invasion, the manipulative actress Viviane Denvers (Isabelle Adjani) uses her former sweetheart Frédéric Auger (Grégori Deràngere) to hide the body of a man killed by her. Frédéric hits the car, the dead man is found and he is sent to prison. When the Germans invade France, Frédéric escapes with another prisoner, Raoul (Yvan Attal), and they become friends. In the runaway to Bordeaux, they meet in the train Camille (Virginie Ledoyen), the young assistant of the physicist Professeur Kopolski (Jean-Marc Stehlé), who is trying to leave France with his research of heavy water. Once in Bordeaux, the group meets Viviane with her new lover, the minister of state Jean-Étienne Beaufort (Gérard Depardieu), and is chased by a German spy, the journalist Alex Winckler (Peter Coyote), while Paris is falling and the population is confused.

What a delightful and magnificent romantic adventure "Bon Voyage" is! The excellent and complex screenplay has action, romance, war, comedy, espionage, drama and lots of characters, played by a fantastic cast, indeed a constellation of stars; the direction is stunning; the music score is wonderful. I really loved this marvelous film, and I have to finish my review due to my limitation of adjectives to describe such a gem. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Viagem do Coração" ("Travel of the Heart")

Since I've only ever seen Isabelle Adjani in heavy dramas, it was really fun to see her in Bon voyage, a lush melodrama that only halfway takes itself seriously. She plays a movie actress in the 1930s, and her planned hysterics to get what she wants out of her simpering male public are quite funny. The story itself is dramatic, centered around a murder in pre-WWII, but she leans on everyone else to do her dirty work and doesn't seem to understand that something really bad could happen to her.

When a man is found dead in her apartment-which was so gorgeously furnished and designed I wished the entire movie took place there-Isabelle calls her longtime friend and admirer, Grégori Derangère to help her out. She's beautiful and starts to cry, so he agrees. But, with the dead body in the trunk of his car, his windshield wipers stop working as he's driving in a storm and he crashes into a police station. It is a tense scene, but it's also a little tongue-in-cheek. Grégori accidentally breaks his windshield wipers and reaches around to wipe the glass with his hand.

With Gérard Depardieu as a minister of justice who also falls under Isabelle's spell, and Peter Coyote as a mysterious character who might be either friend or foe, there's enough dramatics to last the rest of the movie. Keep in mind the setting. This isn't your average 1930s period piece; it takes place in the last few months before the war. It's very lush and glossy, and Gabriel Yared's music helps set the tone, so if it sounds good to you, you'll probably like it.

Billed as a romantic comedy set against the early years of WWII it fails to deliver. The problem is that while beautifully photographed it has no consistent story line or narrative. Starting as a murder mystery it offers no hope to its actors as it meanders through recent history. Depardieu is wasted in a trivial role he obviously is not comfortable with playing. Adjani cannot carry the picture. The hero is not; obviously an imitation of a Hitchcock "wrongly accused" role it lacks balance. Neither heroic, comic nor suspenseful.

This could have been a good film. I am reminded of "The Lady Vanishes" which did combine suspense, romance and comedy in a serious film dealing with fascism.

I don't know if other viewers of this film got the same reaction I did: I came out of the theater dizzy!

There is so much in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's film to make a couple of other movies. He decided to make the picture in a style that is atypical of the European cinema these days, where slow films are the norm of the new ones that get to this country. This is more madcap Hollywood than arty French.

Isabel Adjani is a beautiful woman. Her Viviane Denvers is a caricature of the film divas of the 40s. Some people fail to see the humor in the way she comes across, and judging from the audience at my screening, there were almost no laughs. One wonders if the pairing of Adjani against Gerard Depardieu, an actor that hasn't played comedy too successfully, was to make the contrast more sharply between his Beaufort, the powerful minister, and the beauty of Viviane. Beauty and the beast, anyone?

Gregori Deranger, as Frederic, plays him well. Virginie Ledoyen, as the mousy Camille, is also good.

Maybe with a more sedate pace, the film would have been more satisfying.

"Bon Voyage" has plenty to offer from a solid cast to good production value to quality cinematography and music, etc. However, this subtitled French WWII tale (circa 1940-42) including a vain actress, a scientist, a government official, a luscious nerdy chick, a nice guy hero type, and a oodles of extras distills to a whole lot of busy running around and a meager plot which is splattered over a bouquet of genres. Sometimes comedy , sometimes drama, sometimes romance, with no clear sense of direction, "Bon Voyage" offers marginal entertainment value for French speakers and fans of the cast. All others, do your homework before committing to this almost 2 hour flick. (B)

When I went to see Bon Voyage, I expected a good, skillful multidrama on the order of Grand Hotel (1932) and Les Enfants de Paradis (1944). It was better than that. With few exceptions, none of the characters were totally good or totally evil--just as in real life. The acting was wonderful, especially those who played Frédéric, Raoul, and Camille. The photography was amazing, as it recreated the period perfectly and managed to be shot in/around Bordeaux during a time of new public works but managed the "look" of June 1940. Costumes and make-up were accurate. There is so much in this movie that it's worth a second viewing. It's exciting, funny, and, ultimately, touching. N.B.--Be sure to see it in a theatre with good quality projection. It's in wide-screen, and in the theater where I saw it (the Clairmont in Montclair) the first 30 minutes had the subtitles at the bottom in focus but the actors' faces slightly fuzzy! This was ultimately corrected but detracted from the pleasure of the film.

It's a unique film that can tackle a serious subject in a lightweight way without making it a black comedy. "Bon Voyage" is just such a film, from 2003. It stars the beautiful Isabelle Adjani, not as luminous and breathtaking perhaps as she was in Camille Claudel, but still a beauty, as an actress in constant need of help...from a man. Any man. Her victims include Gérard Depardieu, Grégori Derangère, and Peter Coyote.

It's wartime in Paris, and the Germans are en route. An actress, Viviane Denvers, as she enters her apartment, is assaulted by an old boyfriend. The two fight. In the next scene, she's calling another old boyfriend, Frederic Auger (Derangère) in the middle of the night, begging for help. Auger stumbles over to Viviane's apartment to find a dead man who fell over the stair rail as Viviane was fighting him off.

Frederic wants to call the police, but Vivane fears "scandal." They load the body into the victim's car and Frederic takes off to dump it somewhere. It's pouring rain and the windshield breaks. Unable to see, Frederic gets into an accident and is knocked out briefly; the trunk flies open. Well, the man is dead, okay, but he has a bullet in him. Thanks, Viviane.

Soon, Auger and another prisoner, Raoul (Yvan Attal) have escaped while the prisoners are being removed from Paris. En route to Bordeaux by train, they meet Camille, (Virginie Ledoyen). She is the assistant to a Professor Kopolski who is leaving France with important research, heavy water to make bombs, which he is trying to keep from the Germans.

Viviane and her new man, Jean-Etienne Beaufort (Depardieu), minister of state, are in Bordeaux as well, and the police are hunting for Auger. Meanwile everyone is trying to get somewhere else, and a journalist flirting with Viviane is not what he seems.

Despite showing the real chaos that ensues as people try to get out of Paris, the crowded trains, and the fear, "Bon Voyage" manages to be light and entertaining. Camille is attracted to Frederic; Frederic finds it hard to say no to Viviane; Raoul is attracted to Camille; the Nazis want the Professor's invention; and the minister of state is under Viviane's thumb.

Adjani is appropriately wide-eyed and innocent-acting, as if she's a tragic victim rather than the victimizer; the boyish Derangere is sincere and believable as he tries to help everyone; and Depardieu is effective as a smitten man with huge responsibilities who's having trouble concentrating, what with Viviane pulling him out of huge meetings.

Very entertaining and highly recommended.

"Bon Voyage" has the fast pace that in some ways reminds me of the Indiana Jones/Star Wars films -- it's as if you're on a fast train or roller coaster.

It's billed as a romance, mystery, thriller, and farce; it's all of that and more including candid observations on the reactions of French society during the Nazi invasion at the start of WWII. And it's also an exhibition of juggling that involves 7 main characters. The scenes all seemed historically accurate (to my eyes) and gave an excellent feeling for the period.

All of the actors were well cast and gave great performances but IMO the most superb was that by Isabelle Adjani who played the role of an opportunistic, self-centered French movie star; not only did she quite convincingly play the role of a young actress perhaps half her age but she also played her amorous wiles convincingly yet in such a way that the audience sees she's only half serious and more complex as a person than just a gold digger. Her character and energy propel the film through from beginning to end. It wasn't until I read Roger Ebert's review that I discovered she was 48 years old at the time of the film. What beauty!!

I appreciated the ending -- it's satisfying but lets you write your own conclusion as to what happens to the main characters.

As another User Commenter observed -- do NOT arrive late; you need to be there from the opening scene. Good advice.

I gave it 9 of 10.

This film looks at the travails of a group of Parisians against the backdrop of Nazi occupation of France during WWII. It moves at a frenetic pace, touching on murder, chases, shootouts, espionage, romance, and intrigue, but doesn't go anywhere. The action seems to be there just for the sake of action. There is no narrative flow or compelling storyline to propel the film forward or grab the viewer. It is meant to be a comedy of sorts, but there isn't a chuckle to be had here. Adjani looks strangely puffy while Depardieu is given little to do. What is Coyote doing in this movie? Rappeneau, who has directed eight movies in 50 years, appears to be in over his head.

On its surface, this is one of the most classically entertaining action/comedy/romance films I've seen in a long time, reminding me of pleasurable old "Saturday-afternoon" movies that had just the right balance of unexpected twists, well-timed humor and integrated action. Beyond this, though, there is our knowledge of this film's context. It has the same elements of "Casablanca," but is set just before many of the characters would truly understand the seriousness of what was happening to their country (and the world) and the consequences of some of their own behavior. This adds a strong note of irony to the humor (we sense that one of the female characters has a radical change of hairstyle in her future). This is a film that you will not regret watching.

Jean-Paul Rappeneau's "Bon voyage" has a good plot. It focuses on a group of people traveling across Nazi-occupied France to deliver heavy water to England. It could've been a better movie had it developed the characters a little more. Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, and the rest of the cast all put in fine performances amid a pulse-pounding storyline. It's just that the characters are too thin for it to be any sort of masterpiece.

I guess that I can recommend the movie, even knowing that it's nothing great. The plot moves along at a smooth pace, keeping you on the edge of your seat the whole time. That and the performances are what I can recommend about the movie. Not much else. Louis Malle's "Au revoir, les enfants" is the truly worthwhile French movie about this period.

I've just been at the cinema in down town Prague watching this film.

Not due to the poster I found very Holywood old-fashioned heroic

style. Not due to the high level starring which remind me that most

of those high starring French films are usually pathetic. But just

because there are not so many films in my French mother tongue in a

city like Prague. And because I love Adjani, Depardieu and Rappenau's

Cyrano. Then I decided to write up this small comment because I think

I really don't agree with the comment main stream on this film on imdb.

I was not disappointed. The film just look like the poster. The

characters are just as stupid as they look like. For a while I

thought Adjani would be like a caricature -- just a funny character

you can laugh at. No she is not! For example when she decides to tell

Depardieu she is the one who murdered the fat one she killed at the

beginning of the film then come the violins in a big fat pathetic

music which should make you cry and realize Adajani's character is a

deeper person as she looks like. Maybe this was humor at the 10th

level but I am sorry my sense of humor is not that high! If I want to

see some funny French film on the WWII I watch once again La Grande

Vadrouille! It is definitively more fun! I have also read on imdb

that Lemoine is making a great performance in this film. I have to

say I have never seen a so bad acting! (Well I have never seen any Ed

Wood's film). Nevertheless the film is good filmed with a lot of good

(very costly) scenes like the one with the Pantheon in the morning

when the German army arrives at Paris or when the refugees settle down

on a bridge in Bordeaux. I think Rappeneau is a good filmmaker but

that he does better with a good script. It was easy with Cyrano. He

had not to write the dialogs!

I give 1/10.