There have always been clearly defined classifications of what a feature film and a documentary film should be.This is the reason why almost all the films follow this classification.Rare are those films which do not follow such a classification.Coup pour coup directed by Marin Karmitz is one such film which openly flouts this rule.It is not entirely a feature film nor is it a documentary film.Of course it has some non professional actors.The blows in question are the ones which some striking workers (most of them are women)would like to give to the factory and its management.In the film there is immense proof of female solidarity as most of the striking women share a family bond with each other.This is a highly inventive film rarely shown on international film festival circuits.I got a chance to watch this film on the French channel TV5.This is a good film by Marin Karmitz.It is a pity that after this film he did not direct any other film.A must for those who want to watch some unusual film.
3 Reviews
The film describes a strike in a French textile factory, when the striking workers occupy the factory. The title translates as, "Blow for Blow", as in a fight
tinabiz17 November 2005
A movie about a strike that is not just dramatic, but funny, poignant, and feminist. If you liked Matewan, Harlan Couty, U.S.A, or Bread and Roses, you will enjoy this movie.
The film has a fair balance of talk and action, between the local and universal. It portrays the strikers as intelligent actors in the process of planning and carrying out their plant occupation. When the women on strike leave their domestic obligations to their husbands, there is a lively exchange about this role-flip, years before stay-at-home husbands became a hot topic. The strikers' treatment of the factory director is riotously funny.
Karmitz also conveys a wonderful sense of the times, in France not long after the May 1968 events. I would recommend this movie to anyone who has grown weary of bug-eating reality shows and computer-enhanced shoot-em-up action heroes. If you like watching ordinary people doing extraordinary things, check out this movie.
The film has a fair balance of talk and action, between the local and universal. It portrays the strikers as intelligent actors in the process of planning and carrying out their plant occupation. When the women on strike leave their domestic obligations to their husbands, there is a lively exchange about this role-flip, years before stay-at-home husbands became a hot topic. The strikers' treatment of the factory director is riotously funny.
Karmitz also conveys a wonderful sense of the times, in France not long after the May 1968 events. I would recommend this movie to anyone who has grown weary of bug-eating reality shows and computer-enhanced shoot-em-up action heroes. If you like watching ordinary people doing extraordinary things, check out this movie.
Rebels with a cause
dbdumonteil24 June 2014
A movie which must have scared lots of people for,to my knowledge ,TV screened it for the first time this very year;in the theaters ,its release was secret and anyway it would have certainly failed ,since it completely refused the star system (which many so called subversive movies in the Wake of the events of May 68 did not avoid :'Tout Va Bien " by His Majesty Godard starred Yves Montand and Jane Fonda).The final cast and credits do show a collective work:the non -Professional (in the majority) and professional actors are treated on an equal footing with the technicians ,the screenwriters and the director .
Far from Godard's intellectual abstract didactics ," Coup Pour Coup" is close to documentary (cinema verite)and some entire scenes seem to have been improvised .
In a textile factory ,women are exploited by the local boss,MR Boursac (what a name : "purse bag"!);the Tycoon divides and rules,sitting comfortably in his desirable mansion :his foremen (and forewoman:only one!)throw their weight around;tired of being treated like slaves ,the workers rebel :the strikers have occupied the place and they take the boss hostage ,in spite of some older workers' reluctance .It was the time of women's lib's coming of age and thus enormously significant :their husbands generally support them but some of them still show a macho attitude ("who's gonna cook my steak for lunch?).It's interesting to notice the farmer's solidarity who sells his milk at a cost price (how amazed the woman are,when they compare it with the price they pay in the supermarkets).
No star ,no central character ,the crowds are the heroes ,in the grand tradition of Eisenstein ;the director is no match for the Russian master,but his movie is never dull and can be considered a time capsule of the post -May 68 era .
Far from Godard's intellectual abstract didactics ," Coup Pour Coup" is close to documentary (cinema verite)and some entire scenes seem to have been improvised .
In a textile factory ,women are exploited by the local boss,MR Boursac (what a name : "purse bag"!);the Tycoon divides and rules,sitting comfortably in his desirable mansion :his foremen (and forewoman:only one!)throw their weight around;tired of being treated like slaves ,the workers rebel :the strikers have occupied the place and they take the boss hostage ,in spite of some older workers' reluctance .It was the time of women's lib's coming of age and thus enormously significant :their husbands generally support them but some of them still show a macho attitude ("who's gonna cook my steak for lunch?).It's interesting to notice the farmer's solidarity who sells his milk at a cost price (how amazed the woman are,when they compare it with the price they pay in the supermarkets).
No star ,no central character ,the crowds are the heroes ,in the grand tradition of Eisenstein ;the director is no match for the Russian master,but his movie is never dull and can be considered a time capsule of the post -May 68 era .
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