Search - La Bonne Annee (Happy New Year) on DVD

Our favorite French Movie. Worth the wait.

William T. Bebout | Somerville, MA United States | 01/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My wife Clare and I have been watching La Bonne Annee every New Year's Eve since the early 90's. What a thrill for us to be able to retire the VHS copy this year. The DVD transfer is much cleaner.It is true that the English sub-titles are not always an accurate translation of the French, but we find that true with all French Films. FYI when you hear the French for "comfortable" in the film, you should know that it has a much more intimate sense than our English version. La Bonne Annee really stands up to repeated viewings. It has many pleasures, It's wonderfully directed, filmed and edited. The acting is seamless (the lingering close-ups of Lino Ventura's face linger in the mind too) . It has wit, romance, friendship, is poignant, and has suspense too. You will never look at any price that ends with .99 the same way again. We own very few DVD's. This one is a treasure."

What took you so long?

F.M.Brewster | ORINDA, CA USA | 08/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Claude Lelouch made this movie in 1973. He had made "a Man and a Woman "in 1965 and the haunting melody will be forever in our ears. He loved his work so ,that he could even joke about it "you have to love windshield wipers" He did a sequel in 1985"A Man and a Woman,2O years later" which was surprisingly good."La bonne année"starts with a scene from this masterpiece and I love both movies . Although one could object to the ending-crime is not supposed to pay-Françoise Fabian is so beautiful and Lino Ventura so believable,that the ending seems well deserved. I am glad it is finally available on DVD and I only wish for French subtitles, the English ones only approximate the dialogue."