Life and Nothing But

Theatrical Release Date: 1990 09 14 (USA)

UPC: 738329037321

Studio: Kino

Summary: The grim post-World War I era in Europe is grist for director Bertrand Tavernier's mill in Life and Nothing But. Philipe Noiret portrays a French major who is supervising the gruesome task of counting and identifying the corpses still strewn over the battlefield. Noiret is obsessed with the notion that, by doing his job above and beyond the call of duty, he can somehow make up for the carnage in which he participated a few years earlier. The major's mission is intercut with short vignettes involving the families and loved ones of the dead, and with the efforts by another officer to find a suitable candidate for an Unknown Soldier testimonial. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actor – French Academy of Cinema Best Music – French Academy of Cinema Best Actor – European Film Academy Special Jury Award – European Film Academy Best Foreign Film – Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Features: An interview with Philippe Noiret and Bertrand Tavernier
Stills gallery
Filmographies
Optional English subtitles
Enhanced for 16x9 TVs

Life and Nothing But

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 08/17/2004

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Runtime: 135 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Missing in Action [9:49]
2. Top Secret [6:24]
3. An Unending War [9:46]
4. Tivo Rivers Meet [5:44]
5. Missing Faces [8:48]
6. Off the Safe Path [10:30]
7. The Art of Artifacts [9:30]
8. The Tunnel Incident [13:41]
9. Hotel Warin [12:26]
10. "Who Is Mr. Pony?" [1:13]
11. Betrayed By the Dead [7:51]
12. Dinner, Dancing & Patriotism [9:44]
13. Confessions & The Unknown Soldier [8:13]
14. A Souvenir, A Letter [8:07]

Mike Cummings

World War I not only killed and crippled, it also stole, robbing untold thousands of soldiers of their identities. This 1989 Bertrand Tavernier film tells the story of a French army officer, Major Dellaplane, charged with restoring the identities of 350,000 dead or shell-shocked Frenchmen. As Dellaplane toils, Tavernier holds a mirror to postwar France. And what the viewer sees is revolting. Profiteering sculptors offer to immortalize soldiers in stone. Quick-find merchants promise to ferret out rotting corpses. Worst of all, bigwig bureaucrats promote national glory by ordering Dellaplane to certify a soldier -- any soldier -- as "unknown" to meet the deadline for enshrining a nameless warrior in France's tomb of the unknown soldier, the Arc de Triomphe. Dellaplane must deliver an unidentified corpse even if he and his staff have the wherewithal to eventually identify the soldier. Philippe Noiret portrays Dellaplane brilliantly. Outwardly, he is dispassionate, abrupt, and cold. Inwardly, he is fiercely dedicated to his task. Men who fell in battle for their country deserve at least a name, he believes. While probing for information, Dellaplane meets two women -- Alice (Pascale Vignal), who is searching for her husband, and Ir?ne (Sabine Az?ma), who is searching for her fianc?. When Dellaplane tells Ir?ne the fate of her beloved -- and who he really was -- the shock devastates her. As for Alice, Dellaplane falls in love with her, but does not reveal his feelings until his job is done and she is more than 4,000 miles away. La Vie et Rien d'Autre succeeds as an antiwar film, one that calls attention to a rarely chronicled part of war -- the aftermath. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Odile Cointepas  Actor 
Pascal Elso  Actor 
Louba Guertchikoff  Actor 
Charlotte Maury  Actor 
Stephen Potts  Actor 
Catherine Verlor  Actor 
Gabriel Cattand  Actor 
Eric Dufay  Actor 
Thierry Gimenez  Actor 
Louis Lyonnet  Actor 
Nicolas Tronc  Actor 
François Caron  Actor 
Philippe Deplanche  Actor 
Alain Frerot  Actor 
Charlotte Kadi  Actor 
Jean-Roger Milo  Actor 
Marcel Zanini  Actor 
Jean-Claude Calon  Actor 
Jean-Yves Gautier  Actor 
Jean-Christophe Lebert  Actor 
Christophe Odent  Actor 
Bruno Therasse  Actor 
Oswald d'Andréa  Actor 
Mickey Baker  Actor 
Jean-Paul Comart  Actor 
Sangoma Everett  Actor 
Gilles Janeyrand  Actor 
Frederique Meininger  Actor 
Bruno Raffaelli  Actor 
Adrienne Bonnet  Actor 
Francois Domange  Actor 
Jerome Frossard  Actor 
Daniel Langlet  Actor 
Georges Staquet  Actor 
Mike Zwerin  Actor 
Michel Cassagne  Actor 
Arlette Gilbert  Actor 
Marion Loran  Actor 
Marc Perrone  Actor 
Pierre Trabaud  Actor 
W. Franke Harling  Actor 
Jean Champion  Actor 
Francois Dyrek  Actor 
Michele Gleizer  Actor 
Patrick Massieu  Actor 
Frédéric Pierrot  Actor 
Philippe Uchan  Actor 
Frederic Bourboulon  Executive Producer 
Jean Cosmos  Screenwriter 
Oswald d'Andréa  Composer (Music Score) 
Albert Prevost  Executive Producer 
Bertrand Tavernier  Director 
Bertrand Tavernier  Screenwriter 
Philippe Noiret  Actor 
Sabine Azéma  Actor 
Pascale Vignal  Actor 
Maurice Barrier  Actor 
Francois Perrot  Actor 
Jean-Paul Dubois  Actor 
Daniel Russo  Actor 
Michel Duchaussoy  Actor 

Country: France