User Reviews

Made in the mellow style of the middlebrow French cinema of the '60s, 'Le voyage …' gave to its lead an apposite character, and Fernandel makes a great role as a Jura villager who travels by train to Lyon, from the Gex station, to see whether his elder daughter does have the life from the women's magazines like 'Elle'; Fernandel's Quantin is one of the best characters of the French cinema that I know, and it's a complex role, very unusual also, not only one to boost the lead, but a true and unusual role, convincingly rendered by the player. The rest of the cast deserves being thanked.

Lilli Palmer was a distinguished lady, and here she plays Fernandel's wife, a very lifelike character, her too a complex part, and endearing.

Madeleine Robinson has a small part as the brothel's manager.

Michel Auclair is well-known, and not very likable.

Terzieff is great as the village teacher and Fernandel's sidekick; he belongs, in a very general typology, to Trintignant's type, and both, to J. Dean's, each of them, having, of course, his own peculiar style transcending what they all do have in common, anyway the rapprochement may be made. Noiret has a bit part, as the leftist malcontent, and by '66 he was already memorable.

The unusual fact is this: Fernandel could play a good man. And here, the good man was wisely thought-out and written. The story has a moral standpoint, that of the common sense. And this stance is plausible because the story isn't contrived, but takes facts such as they could be really found in the common people's lives.

People talk about De Gaulle, Mao, Vietnam, napalm, Hiroshima.

'Le voyage …' is stylish and thoughtful, the performances match the undeniable thrill of the story. We understand that La Patellière knew his trade, and that trade was, by then, despised and trashed by the New Wave (the New Wave theorists disliked such movies made for the lead's sake), yet it was much more than common craft, though in that epoch the mellowness was taken for granted, and disposable. If we term it craft, it was craft in the best sense. Seen one Saturday afternoon, this movie made me happy. This refreshing movie has common sense even in being heartrending, the script is thoughtful and the smoothness of La Patellière's style delights. I liked the atmosphere, the thrill of the quest in Lyon, those buildings and streets …. There are delightful _cityscapes of Lyon by evening and by daylight, a nice railway station in Gex, landscapes of Jura. And the main joy are Fernandel and Lilli Palmer.

Fernandel's character isn't just any person; on the contrary, he is the best person alive, as his wife is aware. This makes the movie one about an unusual character. And the lead knew how to be up to his task, and for him too it was an unusual opportunity, which he seized.

'Le voyage …' means much of what the New Wave directors and theorists disliked: centered on a beloved lead, directed by a craftsman, La Patellière, and having a _commonsensical conservative moral standpoint. Its beauty comes from being such a lavish movie, such an unusually lavish movie so carefully made, having a great lead, a great cast (Fernandel, Lilli Palmer, Terzieff who makes a trustworthy sidekick), an experienced director, a great story, an ethical standpoint with cautionary common sense, and great shows (Lyon, the mountains …); and being a movie about goodness (about loss, naivety, fashion, society, etc., but mainly about kindness), and an astounding one at that, makes it very unusual. You sense also that this very great player, Fernandel, wasn't ashamed of playing with a straight face his villager, he felt that his role was enormously demanding, exigent, and he proved to be the one who did it.