Malevil

Post-apocalyptic drama envisions in calm and bleak images the social and political implications of a life in a totally uprooted world, basically a pessimistic film that gives hope only in an ambiguous open ending.

Check the title :it's the best thing the film has to offer:a word made of two words "mal " (French) and "evil" (English) which have the same meaning.

It was intended to be "rural" sci-fi without a Charlton Heston type hero.The problem lies in the fact that the movies with Heston ("planet of the apes" of course" but also "the omega man" and "solyent greeen") are damn better than the pitiful French attempt.The cast is not very exciting (Jacques Villeret is not efficient as a drama actor and Jacques Dutronc is a singer,as the precedent user says ,this does not make him an actor for all that).The post apocalyptic future was already a hackneyed subject at the time and the conclusion is clumsy ,unsatisfying ,it takes no chances ,raises no questions does not appeal or repel.

Word to the wise:2 Christian de Challonges movies are much more interesting :"l'alliance" (1970) and "le bel été 14"(1996) and too bad if their ratings are lower.Wait and see.

I'm a lifelong and ardent fan of Robert Merle, the writer who thought up Malevil, genre close to "Les Hommes Protégés" when he wasn't writing his historical classic saga "Fortune de France". The story I used to read many times over is something I was always curious about how they'd put it on celluloid... khmmm... coulda been far better... I think the main problem is that it lacks any real background to the main characters, their 'previos life' their place in the micro-society of the typical rural France countryside.

A spicy choice of brilliant actors (Trintignant as Fulbert, Serrault the Squire and Villeret as Momo) should've been given MUCH more credit than this. I just don't know why this movie went awry - looooong, boring and leaving holes unanswered in the story - maybe it was only intended to be a cheapo TV-film, poorly budgeted variant. If you see the movie first you'll never want to read the book, if you read the book first you'd be disappointed by the movie.

In southern France, in a quite little town, the mayor, who also owns a castle with some cattle, is in the wine cellar with some other people: the pharmacist, the veterinary, and some of his employees. As they are drinking wine, they hear a terrible noise and the heat's getting higher and higher.

They don't realise what's happening: when they come out of the cellar, they realise that everything has burned, and all the buildings are destroyed...

The movie has a classic plot: after the apocalypse, some survivors try to build again a new life, trying to cultivate the land to eat, they also have to defend themselves against some others survivors who try to steel their food... The actors are really good (like Michel Serrault or the singer Jacques Dutronc) and it's really well directed. The director of photography has done a excellent job to: the painting of the post-apocalytic landscapes is really brilliant...

Quite a good movie in fact, although it's a little to long

I really enjoyed the setting and cinematography, it's an interesting take for the classic post-apocalyptic story.

I liked the character selection, these kind of movies are all about it, since there's not much interesting variation you can do about a bomb falling or a zombie outbreak.

The setting is as important as the characters.

The acting is serviceable, nothing specially good but it carries the story.

It's true, as some have said in their reviews, the movie is very slow and the two hours length could be shortened a bit.

My biggest complaint about the film is the las 5/10 (it's also so little in comparison with the long running time of the film, it even seems added in a rush) minutes, where there's a turn of events that doesn't feel solid enough to work well, and it also breaks the feeling I was having just before it happens. Of course it's intencional, but it seemed rushed and inconsistent with how the characters were acting so far.

I haven't read the novel in which this film is based, maybe there the ending has a better pace and it works, but here I don't think it does.

Still, I would recommend the film for fans of the post-apocalyptic genre.