Le bal

Algeria, Italy, France

1983

110 Min

Color

None

Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
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PROD Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Giorgio Silvagni

SCR Ettore Scola, Furio Scarpelli, Jean-Claude Penchenat, Ruggero Maccari

CAST Étienne Guichard, Régis Bouquet, Francesco De Rosa, Arnault LeCarpentier, Liliane Delval, Martine Chauvin, Danielle Rochard, Nani Noël, Aziz Arbia

MUSIC Vladimir Cosma

Berlinale (Competition): Outstanding Single Achievement

Synopsis

1983: women arrive at a dance hall one at a time. Men enter and couples dance, their personalities on display. With the dancers changing characters, the film travels in time. In 1936, the Popular Front gives energy to the working class. In 1940, on the eve of the German occupation, a slumming rich couple get their comeuppance. In 1944, as Paris is liberated, a German officer and a collaborator are rebuffed while a Resistance fighter gets a hero’s welcome. 1946: US soldiers bring silk stockings and jazz. In 1956, rock and roll pushes aside the samba; the cops bust an alien. 1968: student radicals take over the abandoned dance hall. In 1983, it’s a disco. The night ends. —IMDb

Director

Ettore Scola

Ettore Scola (born 10 May 1931) is an Italian screenwriter and film director. Scola was born in Trevico, province of Avellino (Campania).

He entered the film industry as a screenwriter in 1953, and directed his first movie, Let’s Talk About Women, in 1964. In 1974 Scola enjoyed international success with We All Loved Each Other So Much (C’eravamo tanto amati), a wide fresco of post-World War II Italy life and politics, dedicated to fellow director Vittorio De Sica. In 1976 he won the Prix de la mise en scène at Cannes Film Festival for Brutti, sporchi e cattivi.

Since then Ettore Scola has made several successful films, including A Special Day (1977), That Night In Varennes (1982), What Time Is It? (1989) and Captain Fracassa’s Journey (1990). Ettore Scola has directed close to 40 films in some 40 years, and he is still active.

His film Passione d’amore, adapted from a nineteenth-century novel… read more

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Adrian

18Feb12

Me subió el animo.

Daniel S.

14Dec10

This film seems completely forgotten nowadays although it earned a Silver Bear in Berlin and was a nominee in the Academy award Best Foreign Language Film category in 1984 (I know, it's not a material proof that the movie was good but, well, I said it anyway for those who care). How strange ! No words are spoken during the whole movie, the actors play multiple roles and there is only one film set : the dancing floor of a French discotheque. In spite of that, Ettore Scola manages to tell us fifty years of the history of France. Impressive. A highly recommended DVD, zone curious ones.