Freedom for Us

Charming and inventive, and quite funny though not laugh-out-loud hilarious. The comparison between prison life and the industrial workplace is very amusing. As an early talkie, a lot of the time it plays very much like a silent film, though it does lots of clever things with sound, and contains several key songs. This is the movie that Chaplin ripped off when he made Modern Times (but to be fair, Clair himself is obviously influenced by the tramp).

Charming and deceptively breezy for a film that equates capitalism with prison. Rene Clair demonstrates a light touch that makes the toughest medicine go down smoothly. Surely this film was an inspiration for Chaplin's Modern Times.

Enjoyable, meaningful and artistic, but the ever shifting tone of the film kept me from fully embracing it.

Pretty much an irritation from start to finish. And those songs were annoying as hell.

People are commenting on the stinging satire of capitalism, but I'm not seeing it. Or at least, no state of affairs seems to be ideal until no one is doing any work at all. The comedy is reasonably fun, but not enough to distract me from the slip-shod plot.

This is a remarkably subversive film. Much like Chaplin's "Modern Times", it mines a lot of comic ground out of the dehumanizing aspects of the modern workplace, but it ultimately comes down on the side of technology when it can be used to eliminate the need to work entirely.

87.50

Clair's directing demonstrates that sound pictures can be as fluid as silents were, and this picture is rightly considered a classic. Yet it isn't as entertaining as his earlier (silent) THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT or his later LE MILLION; the scenario (which he wrote) turns a little too carefree and ironic-the film grows dull. A NOUS LA LIBERTÉ was obviously the source of some of the ideas in Chaplin's 1936 MODERN TIMES

The silent-film-esque comedy bits are great. Ends with very modern commentary on how automation can free people.

Clair sticks a knife in the back of both capitalism and marxism and says that freedom cannot be defined by any social construction like work or wealth, but by the individual alone. A radical, anarchic 'fuck you' to social control what ever form it comes in.

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

It's political message wasn't nearly as revelatory as I was expecting, but I guess I need to remind myself that it was 1931; this was almost certainly the most overtly political film French audiences had ever seen at the time. Like his previous films, Clair continues to successfully experiment with sound in, even by today's standards, clever and unique ways. Overall, a charming comedy.

Not entirely a musical, even the songs are not entirely fleshed out, but has lots of music, and a scene that will remind you a classic one from MODERN TIMES, only this one is better. It doesn't all cohere, and the socialist talking points are tiresome and silly, but it's funny and good.

An escaped convict (Raymond Cordy) becomes a phonograph tycoon, building a factory as oppressive as the prison he fled, but a reunion with his old cellmate (Henri Marchand) reawakens his humanity. Though a bit ragged in terms of story and pacing, it's otherwise incredibly polished for 1931, with some beautifully orchestrated set pieces, Georges Auric's wonderful score, and Lazare Meerson's amazing Oscar-nominated sets. Its simple, joyous nature is the cherry on top. À nous, à nous la liberté!

I was sort of falling asleep while watching this, so i sort of lost track of the plot along the way, but from what i could follow this was proudly leftist, felt vaguely proto-Kaurismaki-ish, and was maybe the original proto-Apatow bromance comedy all at the same time? I approve, but i guess i was also expecting more of an actual musical?

pretty good.

A light comedy about money, prison and work life from the great director René Clair. It was entertaining in it's way, but I wouldn't say that at any point was this a masterpiece. I guess a lot of the excitement about this film steams from the possibility that it was a source of inspiration for Chaplin's Modern Times rather then on it's own merits.

Please, please stop singing that song.

#516

Rene Clair attempts to blow our minds, man, by pointing out that factory work is like prison. Maybe this was original in 1931; but it seems obvious and silly now. What I'd like to know is how Emile got to be the director of the company; what happens with his chippy and Mr Slicked-Hair; and was Louis supposed to be a guy who was kicked by a horse at some time.

A sweet, merry musical that is also a savage indictment of industrialism, in which convicts escape into another kind of prison: the modern factory. Made possible by Clair's intelligence, wit and--above all--his light touch. If you like "Modern Times," you'll like this film which is one of Chaplin's major influences.

498

Cute, decent, but every single left-wing cliche is in here, it makes me kind of sick.

"René Clair's scathing parable has lost none of its wit, novelty or social insight."

While I appreciated the clear indebtedness to silent comedy a great deal, as well as the intuitive editing between like objects, the ideas of the film strike as incongruent with reality. A couple of ex-cons escape from prison and go on about the importance of freedom, but freedom without justice simply doesn't ring true to me. I also appreciated the connection between factory and prison, but the film seems to celebrate modern idleness by its end.

506

# 474

A great example of how stodgy and dull French movies were before the New Wave turned everything upside down

It has some innovations for its time. Clair dares to question socialism, capitalism, and fascism at the same time while stating that 'freedom' is what matters. Overall it lacks a coherent and sensitive execution despite all of its momentary achievements.