Name: Ainsi soit-il
Genre: Drama
Released: 2000-03-29
Duration: 1 h 20 min
Rating: 6.6
Cast: Paul Blain, Sylvie Olivier, Marie Allianoux

Gérard Blain was terminally-ill when he made his final work ,and it shows on the library pictures of the shooting:his gaunt face is that of a man who has one foot in the grave . He cast his son Paul as the hero of his film; the resemblance between father and son is striking ,and the director could not have made a better choice :Paul's hangdog look, his suffering eyes and his deep love for his family , in short, his commitment to his role are extraordinary .

The first pictures show the undertakers filling the grave:the scene lasts three minutes ;it's all the more harrowing since the actor knows that,in real life , his father's days are numbered and that he will attend this in a few months .

Paul's father was an honest man;he had discovered that his father's partner had tampered with the books of the firm , that he embezzled .And that he probably hired professional killers to do away with a man who was about to give up his job and denounce them to the police.

This looks like a thriller ,but this is not; it's another movie dealing with the father/son relationship ,a pure psychological drama ; even though Blain remained unsung ,one is in awe of the overall coherence of his whole work: from "les amis" where a young boy had an affair with a forty-something man who was as much a father substitute as a lover ,to "le pélican" where a father was denied his son's custody , to "ainsi soit-il " where a beloved father , his whole family will terribly miss ( the mother's depression, the final photograph Paul hangs on the wall which shows a happy family , the days which will never return), is killed because he knows too much.

The revenge on the cold boss is treated in admirably succint style ; the Paul/Bertrand relationship,icily impersonal ,gives goose pimples,without using the de rigueur clichés .His confederate ,a shady estate developer ,is played by a professional actor,Michel Subor who,in "le rebelle" (1980) was the hateful rich person who accepted to give the hero a job if he slept with him ; had he survived ,that's what he could have become :a puffed up smug bourgeois ,a past master in the art of wheeling and dealing.

Blain sets this corrupt rotten world against a family where love and affection are the main values ; Paul's final act ,which recalls what the hero did in "le rebelle" could be much debated : unlike in the 1980 work , the police are not hostile ,the commissaire seems determined to chastise the murderers. The hero praying in the chapel ,referring to the title , does it allow him to....?

Blain was a man of contradictions, but he was chiefly a tortured soul.

French-language cinema, whether in France, Québec, or other Francophone regions, explores cultural identity, social change, and the tension between the individual and society. French cinema is not only celebrated for its intellectual experimentation and auteur traditions, but also its success in mainstream comedy, romance, and commercial entertainment. In Québec, films often focus on questions of language, belonging, and community within a distinct cultural landscape.

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The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

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A son will be invested with a dual mission: to honor the memory of the dead father by charging his murderers the price of blood and, therefore, restore broken family harmony.

Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC)

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Ainsi soit-il

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