Uranus by Claude Berri can be seen on Netflix
Adapted from the novel by Marcel Aymé, Uranus by Claude Berri is one of the few to uncompromisingly address the post-war period in France, a complex and often overlooked moment between the end of the occupation and reconstruction. With an impressive cast – Michel Blanc, Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Philippe Noiret and many others – Uranus offers a stark portrait of the social and moral tensions that reigned in a France trying to reinvent itself after the war.
In a small French town freed from the Nazi yoke, suspicion reigns, complaints fly and accusations of collaboration become the order of the day. Claude Berri brilliantly depicts the social tension in this microcosm where resistance fighters, collaborators and simple citizens with different opinions coexist.all with a dark side to hide or scores to settle. Uranus explores the complexity of human behavior in the face of historical upheaval: honest people consumed by guilt for not taking a stand, petty profiteers looking to profit, and the real scum who profited from the war.
Jean-Pierre Marielle subtly plays a respectable man consumed by doubt, while Gérard Depardieu plays a bon vivant, a poet at heart, who has taken advantage of the confusion to make ends meet. Michel Galabru, in a surprising role, plays an abject character, who has become rich at the expense of others and is determined to maintain his influence. Ideologies also clash through the character of the communist played by Michel Blanc, opposite the sarcastic petty bourgeois played by Fabrice Luchini. Each of the characters embodies an aspect of French society of the time, torn between justice, revenge and reconciliation.
The planet as a symbol
The choice of title Uranus it is not banal, and originates from an evocative scene in the film, inspired by the novel by Marcel Aymé. In this scene, Professor Watrin tells an anecdote regarding the tragic night in which his wife died, killed by a bombing while he was reading an astronomy book on the planet Uranus. Every day, at the precise moment of this bombing, remember this moment when everything changed.
For Watrin the planet Uranus then becomes a symbol of desperation and nothingness, recalling the absurdity and impotence of Man in the face of the forces of destiny. However, in order not to sink into cynicism or bitterness, Watrin chooses to turn to life, to the Earth, and to adopt an attitude of curiosity and wonder for nature and for Man. Focusing his attention on the concrete rather than on the infinite and incomprehensible, he chooses hope, convinced that beauty lies in the simple things of human life.
The title Uranus thus evokes the internal struggle of the characters in the film: how to live and rebuild after the war, when ideals and values have been shaken?
A box office success and a classic to (re)discover
When he was released, Uranus brought together more than 2.5 million spectators in theaters, confirming its success and impact on the public.
The film made its mark for its uncompromising approach to the post-war era and its way of evoking the gray areas between heroism and compromise. The period of purification is approached in a critical way, far from the idealized images of resistant France, in line with films such as Pain and pity by Marcel Ophüls o Lacombe Lucien by Louis Malle, who dared to show a divided and human France, with its flaws.
Available on Netflix, Uranus it’s an opportunity to rediscover this classic of French cinema, both funny and chillingwhich remains relevant today through its questioning of identity, justice and the price of social peace. For those interested in historical dramas or great social frescoes, this film is a necessary dive into a crucial era, with a cast of legendary actors who shine in ambiguous and profound roles.
Source: Cine Serie
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