SAFE CONDUCT (LAISSEZ PASSER) -----------------------------
Screenwriter Jean Aurenche (Denis Podalydes, "Children of the Century") juggles
women while concocting excuses for not writing for German-owned Continental Films in Nazi occupied France. Assistant director Devaivre (Jacques Gamblin, "Dr. Akagi") assuages the Germans while covering for his boss Tourneur (Philippe Morier-Genoud, "Children of the Century"), his own resistance efforts and protecting his wife (Marie Desgranges) and newborn child. Each hopes their wartime actions are "Safe Conduct."
Veteran French director Bertrand Tavernier ("Round Midnight") cowrote "Safe Conduct" with Jean Cosmos ("On Guard!") after meeting the real Jean Devaivre as an exploration of all the gray areas and contradictory motivations that exist during wartime occupation. With a large cast representing a broad cross-section, Tavernier's film bounds along with the rat-a-tat energy of "His Girl Friday," maintaining a light touch while tackling serious themes. The film's only drawback is that its rapid pace and cacaphony of characters requires quite some effort to
keep up with it.
The movie begins like a slammed door farce as Aurenche prepares his hotel for the arrival of his mistress, actress Suzanne Raymond (Charlotte Kady, "L.627"). When the British begin to bomb the local Renault factory, Jean A. continues his lovemaking while Jean Devaivre hurries through the streets to
attend to wife and child. Devaivre's sound crew take the opportunity to retrieve the fish the air raid has brought to the surface of a local lake.
The AD sends his family to the country and makes films under threats of being sent to Babelsberg (the famous Berlin studio) while his director frets over the arrest of his wife. In his spare time, Devaivre bombs German trains, parachutes from British planes and rides his bicycle 380 kilometers to visit Simone. Aurenche moves in with the youthful but worldly Olga (Marie Gillain, "Le Bossu") in the brothel where she works as he tries to decide between Suzanne and her wardrobe assistant Reine (Maria Pitarresi, "It All Starts Today") He ducks the pleas of Continental head Doctor Greven (Christian Berkel, "Das Experiment") for scripts as he incorporates daily observations into his next.
With "Safe Conduct," Tavernier brings to life a period of French filmmaking that had a unique set of challenges (to say the least). Forced to film with short ends on cramped sound stages under the watchful eyes of the invader, these artists and craftsmen carried on with an ingenuity that stretched their abilities. Constant often comical references to food and the power wielded by the purveyors of black market goods underline the basic human needs that were often left wanting as these people toiled on. The grim circumstances of life in the city are made more apparent by the idyll that is the country and Tavernier slows his pace to make the transition with a
beautifully shot sequence of Devaivre bicycling along rural lanes. Director of
Photography Alain Choquart's fluid ("It All Starts Today") work is put to the test within Continental and his camera swoops smoothly amidst crowded equipment and pockets of people.
Tavernier's affection for his fellow Frenchmen and filmmakers of the 1940s shines throughout "Safe Conduct." It's an engaging testament to the creative spirit.
B+
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