It's a bit too convenient to credit Philibert's film with Proustian significance, but this particular remembrance has been constructed with similar profundity.
Comment
02/05/09
Back To Normandy (2007)
88
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:17
Fresh:15
Rotten:2
Average Rating:6.6/10
Theatrical Release:Jul 25, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: Nicolas Philibert, the director of TO BE AND TO HAVE, stays in documentary territory with this engaging film. Decades before BACK TO NORMANDY, Philibert worked as an assistant director on the film... [More]
Director: Nicolas Philibert
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Reviews for Back To Normandy
1 - 17 (sorted by date)
Back to Normandy is never less than an extraordinary journey through time, memory and the repercussions of a baffling, bygone crime.
07/25/08
Top CriticThe doc becomes an ode to the film the cast collectively made and iterates what power and range a camera can have in front as well as behind the scenes.
07/25/08
The testimony of Normandy’s subjects is always fascinating; Philibert proves that not all directors should wade in the same river twice.
07/24/08
It is rather awesomely evident that when the cameras left, life -- and death -- simply went on.
07/23/08
Top CriticWith Back to Normandy, a nostalgic travelogue with philosophical aspirations, director Nicolas Philibert not only returns to the scene of a crime but the scene of a movie shoot.
07/21/08
Intriguing and occasionally moving film with a strong central idea and some engaging interviewees.
01/25/08
Granted, Philibert’s free-roaming approach is as languid as a weekend ramble. But his warm, tender, patient film finds much to move and chew on in the mulch and mire of rustic matters.
01/18/08
A generous portrait of a community, past and present, reflecting on their unexpected contribution to the cinema.
01/18/08
A sophisticated meditation on community, transgression and the law.
01/18/08
A leisurely and reflective film filled with warmth and respect for its subjects.
01/18/08
Philibert lets the interviewees ramble and the fly-on-the-wall business feels totally random.
01/18/08
A typically detailed profile of people creating something remarkable together.
01/18/08
Viewers should be won over by the director’s warm humanity, puckish sense of humour and rich appetite for contingent associations.
10/06/07
A self-effacing figure, Philibert never imposes himself on the film, preferring to stress the communal experience of its creation and the very human stories that have emerged from his return journey.
05/28/07
Not so much an entertainment or even an illumination, but rather a personal cinematic scrapbook, which should be stamped 'return to sender.'
05/25/07
Top CriticA straightforward docu with a slightly mystical heart, Back to Normandy plays like a meticulous personal project on which we are permitted to eavesdrop.
05/24/07
Top Critic1 - 17 (sorted by date)
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