Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (1975)

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The most unusual entry in the AFT series was no doubt one of the least successful. Though it attempted to make the source material more cinematic through the use of flashy visuals and edits (think a somnambulistic Ken Russell circa Tommy and Listzomania), this only helped to date a production that, considering the music at its centre, had no right to be dated. Jacques Brel was a brilliant French songwriter and while his music found its way into the English and American pop charts thanks to various bastardizations (stand up Rod McKuen and Terry Jacks), his acerbic lyrical style and gallows humour were always lost in the translation. The intention of the off-Broadway musical was to no doubt make amends for this and to introduce an English-speaking audience to some of the finest songs ever written, yet the power of the songs, no matter how great they are, are reliant on the three performers, who, at least in this incarnation, are simply not up to scratch. While Elly Stone's shrill voice does not help matters, the worst culprit is Mort Shuman.Shuman, a legendary Brill Building songwriter, was responsible for the English translation of Brel's songs and many will know that these translations were scattered across Scott Walker's astonishing first four solo albums of the late sixties. And herein lays Shuman's greatest misstep, as he, coincidentally or not, takes on the task of covering the same songs as Walker. Yet not only does Shuman lack Walker's powerful voice, he also manages to deliver the tunes in a misguided and frequently irritating fashion. Compare his pitiful rendition of Mathilde to the version on Walker's debut, and one will see how crucial the delivery of Brel's songs are to their power, Walker brilliantly straddles an intense line between ecstasy and despair, as compared to Shuman, who lifelessly pouts his way through the song.Only Joe Masiell's voice seems suited to the material and though many of his scenes are highlights, the undoubted triumph is Brel's haunted, French rendition of If You Go Away, where in a single, deeply moving take, the great man himself, approaching his death in 1978, tears a hole in the film that it has no chance of recovering from. If there is a single reason to view the film, it is for this, otherwise one is recommended to save your cash and purchase Brel's own recordings or the compilation Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel.

This film is of interest because it captures two of the original performers of the original version of the Off-Broadway revue, and because Jacques Brel appears in it. But wow, it couldn't be more 70s. The show is not improved by the faux-surrealism or the "hippie children" running around like escapees from "Pippin" or "Godspell". Elly Stone, who brought Jacques Brel's songs to the US, has an intensely irritating voice but is still compelling. Mort Shuman, another original cast member (I believe he also did some of the translations), is quite good. For some reason they dropped the second female role, and the second male role is played by Joe Masiell rather than the original Shawn Elliott, whom I would have been interested to see. Masiell has an excellent voice but his mannerisms are a little over the top.The best part of the film is also the worst: Jacques Brel himself, singing one of his most famous songs, "Ne Me Quitte Pas". It starts out with a closeup of his eyes. The camera pulls back, and you see him simply sitting at a table, singing the song. He's stunning. You think to yourself, "What a great chance to see him at the height of his powers! How smart of them to let him just sit and sing!" And then the camera starts moving in, slowly but relentlessly, to just a closeup of his eyes ... and STAYS THERE for the rest of the song! What idiot directed THAT?? Truly a case of the sublime turning into the ridiculous.

As a big Brel fan, I saw this today and was intrigued and so bought it. It may have been the show that claims to have introduced non-French speaking audiences to his music but it is the most painfully awful thing that I have every seen and heard. It is so dated and clichéd 70's awful acting. The "performers" none of them appear to be able to sing in the slightest – they just seem to screech through the awful "translations" of his songs. I cringed watching is – it is just so awful. It not only is a travesty of Brel's music, it is also so badly acted and sung. The translations and "interpretations" of his songs are just so bad. Brel himself makes cameo appearances in this production but for the life of me I cannot fathom why he did and allowed them to murder his music like this. This really is the worst of American 70's theatre productions. I sincerely wish I'd saved my money and spend it on another original Brel recording – or almost on anything else than this. I cannot emphasise enough to people not to waste their money on this. Even as a piece of Brel memorabilia it is the kind of thing that I'd want to hide behind some books and not own up to possessing. The original French of his songs are deeply poetic and touch the deepest of emotions – all this production does is make you cringe and think "it can not possibly get any worse" – and unfortunately it does go on and prove you wrong – it does just get worse and worse. Save your money and stick to the original songs sung by him in French and not put yourself and Brel's music through this torture! All I can hope to recover from this is that I am able to dissuade anyone else from making the same mistake as me and buying it!!!!

I originally heard this on borrowed vinyl many years ago. When it appeared on cable, I had the foresight to videotape it, and have had the pleasure of watching it numerous times. I recently bought the soundtrack CD, replacing my worn out audio tape, and I listen while driving, singing all the wonderful songs at the top of my lungs, and seeing the video in my mind's eye. I am sure it is not for everyone, and it is way outside my usual musical or movie tastes, but for me it is the berries. True story-I was riding on a ski lift with a couple of strangers, and one was trying to describe this strange musical he had seen to his partner. I piped in with the name, etc. How unlikely- one of the twelve people who ever saw this was there when needed! But beware: this sure ain't rock and roll.