MovieChat Forums > Le beau Serge Discussion > Le Beau Serge: What happened to Serge?

Le Beau Serge: What happened to Serge?

posted 18 years ago by ellisisle
8 replies | jump to latest

Le Beau Serge:
I have seen this film twice
and it still fascinates me.
The first time I saw it,
I thought Francoise was coming home to die.
He was sick and tired.
Then he sees his old friend Serge and
the story shifts to Francoise
and Serge.
He is shocked at his appearance and
their encounters escalate to arguments
and then violence.
Apparently, Serge's wife had a child that died.
Serge becomes an alcoholic, his wife
is now with child and he is
afraid the child will be be
born with the same deformities.
How far will a friend help another
friend, when he resents that help?
ellisisle

[–] ilpohirvonen 13 years ago

Yeah quite an intriguing storyline, isn't it? To my mind the ending indicates that Serge succeed to find deliverance in life, and Francois in death - maybe? if he died. It's all open for interpretation. What a film. That's a nice summary you've done by the way.

[–] angelikafauve 12 years ago

I agree with your conclusion on Serge and Francois luck. To me that film was a real masterpiece because it was sincere with real characters pointing at the contrast between pure and sauvage emotions, of people - as for the environnement, all must see the poverty described in French villages of place and time.

Always at your disposition

[–] ellisisle 11 years ago

10/16/2013 3:56am Le Beau Serge
angelikafauve: I don't know what happened to Francois,
who was very ill, I do feel they were both healed in some way.
Francois was able to forget about his illness and he rescued
Serge from his demons, and the abject poverty of this village
and both men had a temporary reprieve from life's
cruelties.

ellisisle

[–] ellisisle 11 years ago

10/16/2013 3:47am Le Beau Serge
freku: I haven't seen this film in quite some time
but I do think about it from time to time.
I do believe Francois SAVED Serge.

ellisisle

[–] ellisisle 10 years ago

2/24/14 3:23a Le Beau Serge 1958
ilpohirvonen:
The storyline is a Hoot and after reading a few reviews,
I realized that the film has a lot more going on than I expected.
Francois is ill, the village is sick, Serge is an alcoholic,
the villagers want Francois to leave, he isn't welcome there.
My summary would probably be different today. The way
film's seem to change over the years, they're like chameleon's.
Ever changing, adapting or am I the one who has changed?
ellisisle

[–] franzkabuki 11 years ago

A surprisingly positive resolution this film had - I was quite sure someone was gonna die a particularly tragic, miserable death in the end (most likely - and cynically - Francois), but instead someone was born... Sure, it`s quite possible, perhaps even probable, that Francois The Saviour caught a lethal cold and, eventually, ended up sacrificing his life for Serge`s son and hope for happier times for his family and, by an apparent allegorical implication, rural France in general (as such, Le Beau Serge sort of plays like a more upbeat answer to Bresson`s earlier Diary Of The Country Priest), but since this doesn`t actually happen in the film, it doesn`t really count...

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] ellisisle 11 years ago

10/16/2013 4:15am Le Beau Serge
franzkabuki:
You made me think about this film again and
so I need to get the DVD, so I can revisit this film.
I'm pleased that the film ended on a hopeful note,
both men were in such dire straits. I just
realized, all the while Francois was trying to help
Serge, we all know Francois is seriously ill, but
Serge doesn't know, would he had been so cruel
and selfish, if he knew? If Francois
dies soon after, what becomes of Serge?

ellisisle

[–] [email protected] (1293) 7 years ago

It ended on a hopeful note? I dont think being born to a drunk, abusive jerk is hopeful. And Yvonne will get and has gotten the worst of it. I wish Yvonne ran for the hills with that baby. Hopped a ship to anywhere else.