Long Live Life

Claude Lelouch's film Long Live Life reminds me in many ways of David Lynch's best films and his famous games with the audience and with film genres. Lelouch provocatively mixes elements of disaster films, exploits the psychosis of fear of nuclear weapons, plays with the motif of an alien civilization influencing our lives, quickly transitioning from sci-fi to an espionage drama, and throughout it all, actually tells a love story of two married couples, where reality mixes with the imaginations of everyone involved and the confused viewer is left doubting the true identities of the characters. At the beginning of the film, Lelouch says through one of the characters: "There are filmmakers who tell stories, like Spielberg, there are filmmakers like Fellini who have completely abandoned the story, and there are those who experiment with ways of telling stories." That is exactly what Lelouch aims to do in his work. It's not about who his characters really are. What's important is that through them and their emotions, he can entertain and provoke the viewer. Overall impression: 90%. (12/13/2008)