Grey Souls/Les âmes grises

Last night I made my only visit to this year's Rendez-Vous with French Cinema of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The film was Les âmes grises, which translates to "Grey Souls." Superficially a murder mystery set in a French village near the front during 1917, it really delves into the effect of war on people.

It is a quintessential French movie: it ends quite ambiguously--we never do learn who the murderer was. It is also sad, extremely sad. There isn't a really happy person to be found, except perhaps one, and she meets an untimely death. There are a lot of deaths in the film, beyond the direct casualties of the war.

The acting was excellent, the pacing a bit slow (but that's to be expected from a French film), the cinematography deliberately subdued. The director, Yves Angelo, kept everything taut. Even his Q&A after the screening was subdued and taut.

It's certainly not a fun movie. But if you do like French film, this is a good one.