Almost Peaceful (Un monde presque paisible)
November 2007 Reviewed by: Charlotte Meyer Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

So many movies have been made of the Holocaust that they constitute a genre all their own. But this one might be called a "post-Holocaust" film. Set in Paris in 1946, it is about the lives of eight Jews who have survived or escaped the Holocaust and who are at the work of starting life anew. They come together as workers in a tailor shop owned by big-hearted Monsieur Albert and his wife Léa. Albert has just added two young men to his staff, Joseph and Maurice, although there’s not enough work as it is. But Albert knows they are Jews and out of work, survivors without family. Only one worker, Mme. Andrée, is not Jewish, and their dark humor and jokes mystify her. She doesn’t see the humor in it when Léon, an out-of-work actor who does the pressing, alters Maurice’s last name from "Abramowitz" to "Abramauschwitz." We get a fleeting glimpse of the concentration-camp number tattooed on his own arm. French director Michel Deville uses a light touch. Leaving behind the grimness of the typical Holocaust film, Almost Peaceful is nostalgic, lighthearted, and hopeful.

It is not a film of plot but of mood. The subtle characterizations are what engage us. Reserved and dignified, Charles waits for the return of his wife and two young daughters from the camps. He watches his co-workers’ children with longing and angrily resists the persistent matchmaker, Mme. Sarah, trying to interest him in "a nice marriageable person." Jacqueline, Léon’s happy wife, is soon to have their third child. The solitary Maurice takes comfort in the arms of a prostitute named Simone ("You sew on buttons and I open them," she says matter-of-factly, unashamed). Joseph is the shop’s schlimazel, their youngest worker who keeps dropping his machine and spilling his pins. He is clever enough, though, to recognize the inspector who refuses to give him French naturalization as the same one who arrested his parents while he hid in a cupboard. And he’s brave enough to tell him off. The film is full of these small triumphs. Romance buds, a healthy baby is born, a threatened marriage survives, Charles accepts the loss of his family, life is fresh again. Because the characters still encounter racism, the film ends only "almost" peacefully. It is a heartwarming close, though, with the all the tailors and their children picnicking together on a fine summer’s day in the beautiful French countryside.

The video has a gauzy, soft look with muted colors, enhancing the mood of nostalgia. Black-and-white stills are used in the opening credits and occasionally throughout, catching the characters as they move among the gray stone buildings of their quarter in Paris. The audio tracks use the melodic, uplifting string music of 19th-century composer Giovanni Bottesini. Dialogue is in French -- let French speakers be the judge of its clarity. The non-electronic English subtitles are there whether you want them or not. There are no featurettes.

His great French predecessors, Jean Renoir and Francois Truffaut, were nodding approval while Michel Deville directed this subtle, warm, gentle film.

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