Review of Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well

Introduction

The American Film Theater (spelt this way advisedly) really pushed the boat out for Season Two of their ambitious movie adaptations of theatre productions.

This crazy, late `60`s / early `70`s adaptation of a long-running Broadway musical review immediately reminded me of The Monkee`s suicidal and experimental movie `Head`. It has the same visual look; the same disconnected feel punctuated with songs.

And what a lot of songs! This has no dialogue, just 35 songs connected by nothing more than the fact that they were all penned by the late, great Jacques Brel who knew how to make a drama out of a song better than most. (Check out `Scott Walker sings Jacques Brel`, or Bowie`s version of Amsterdam, or the definitive `Next` by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Or you could just listen to Brel sing them himself, but the mad fool sings them all in French…). Or, alternatively, they`re all collected here, sung in very `showbizzy` fashion with much post-apocalyptic, Young Generation style dancing, with deep and thought-provoking filmic-back-drops and so on.

It stars Mort Shuman (who wrote hits for Elvis and The Drifters amongst others), who translated Brel`s songs into English for the play, who clearly has a passion for the music. Unfortunately, despite this, he comes across slightly comically throughout which detracts from the seriousness of the message. This is melancholic existentialism combined with the occasional waft of nauseous debauchery. Brel makes a number of spooky cameos himself (Citanes in hand, glassy eyed and staring into the distance, glass of wine within reach) and eventually gets to sing one of his own songs, `Ne Me Quitte Pas` which he does with so much passion that the extreme close-up of his eyes shows that he`s shedding real tears.

In addition to Shuman; Elly Stone, and Joe Masiell turn in great singing performances too. Elly Stone was one of the original cast from Broadway so knew her stuff having played more than 1800 performances.

What is evident here is the sheer breadth of Brel`s song-writing talent. Again and again, this surreal, visual `greatest hits` compendium delivers songs that any songwriter would give their writing arm for, and each is markedly different from the last. If there`s any common strand then it`s probably the unique combination of French romanticism and obliquely Flemish symbolism. Brel was born in Belgium but despite years as a resident in Paris never quite lost his roots.
Director Denis Heroux really lets his visual imagination run riot here in a way that would be unimaginable for a commercially funded movie today. He uses puppetry to projected backdrops of Hiroshima and the Nazi`s Nuremberg Rallies, to experimental photography, to mime, sculpture, painting and dance. Most these elements wouldn`t have been possible in the stage production.

Video

This has an early seventies look to it - by which I mean the colour and stock looks like it belongs firmly to that period. Gone are the saturated colours favoured in the sixties, to be replaced with more contrast and grainier stock. The transfer looks in very good shape though with very little sign of wear, though this may be a consequence of this print being played so rarely.

Audio

The audio here is very good.Obviously all the music has been recorded in studio environments prior to filming (sometimes the lip-synching is poor, so what you get is the soundtrack album set to visuals. There`s no dialogue - just 35 of Brel`s finest.

Features

· Theatrical trailer

· "Jacques Brel and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" - an essay by Michael Feingold, Chief Theater Critic, The Village Voice (Text Based) - this is relatively short but interesting background material.

· The AFT Cinebill for Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris -
· An Interview with Edie Landau -- Executive in Charge, The American Film Theatre - the same one that appears on most the AFT collections.

· Ely Landau: In Front of the Camera -- AFT Promotional Reel - 1974

· The American Film Theatre Trailer Gallery -- Includes a complete list of the AFT Films

· The American Film Theatre scrapbook - just some stills.

Conclusion

Of all the crazy plays to adapt to film, this must surely be the craziest. It has no plot, no dialogue, and a principal cast of four. But that didn`t stop the ever-courageous AFT team from transferring it to celluloid in a version that positively explodes with unimaginable experimentation. But looking back, this was the era that had just said goodbye to Warhol`s Plastic Exploding Inevitable that had showcased this multi-media style frenzy. It could be argued that there is no finer backcloth to this type of visual free-form than Brel`s incredible repertoire of songs.

These days we`ve seen it all. Desperate to catch a jaded MTV audience`s attention, every trick in the book has been used on music videos to accompany songs. At the time of its release, this visual bombardment was something new and fresh.

So, yes, this is as crazy and undisciplined as `The Monkee`s` movie `Head`. But if you liked that, then you might like this. It`s a musical like no other, weaved together with some of the finest and most impassioned songs ever written. It`s also potentially one of the most irritating movies of all time, refusing to be categorised and just a giant patchwork quilt of disconnected ideas and emotions. Think `Young Generation` on acid and you won`t go far wrong.