IMDb RATING
6.9/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
Paris, 1984: A group of friends contend with the first outbreak of the AIDS epidemic.Paris, 1984: A group of friends contend with the first outbreak of the AIDS epidemic.Paris, 1984: A group of friends contend with the first outbreak of the AIDS epidemic.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 5 nominations
François Mitterrand
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to a number of reports in Cineuropa during the film's pre-production, the original title was "Le combat de l'ange" (The Angel's Battle). This was changed to "Les témoins" (The Witnesses) by the time initial casting was announced in November 2005.
- GoofsIn one of the first sequence you can see slightly blurred in the background the logo LCL (yellow letters on a blue background) of the Crédit Lyonnais bank. The LCL name/logo was only introduced around 2005 and there did not exist yet in 1984.
- ConnectionsReferences Dracula (1931)
- SoundtracksL'air de Barberine des Noces de Figaro (Cavatine: L'ho perduta, me meschina)
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (uncredited)
Conducted by Dominique Trottein
Performed by Anne-Sophie Domergue with Les musiciens de l'orchestre du Duodijon
Recording engineer: Franck Guinfoleau
Recorded at Auditorium de Dijon (March 2006)
avec l'aimable autorisation de Monsieur le Maire, François Rebsamen
Featured review
Love and Passion in the 1980s: Enter the Spectre
Les Témoins (The Witnesses) is another fine artwork by French director André Téchiné that continues to examine relationships in times of stress and through areas of rough travel. As written by Téchiné, Laurent Guyot, and Viviane Zingg this film is a love story and a social commentary on life in 1984 when AIDS raised its ugly head and disrupted lives, hopes and relationships. What could have been a heavy-handed woeful tale is instead a story about ordinary people and how the spectre of the then 'new disease' affected a small group of friends. In the intimacy of the story there is an opportunity to reflect and to see more clearly the atmosphere of that time in history.
Sarah (Emmanuelle Béart) is a writer of children's books married to Mehdi (Sami Bouajila), a member of the Paris police force vice squad. They have an open marriage and have just given birth to a baby boy - a factor that disrupts their separate lives while conflicting their married life. Sarah has a physician friend Adrien (Michel Blanc, so memorable in his role in 'Monsieur Hire') who is gay, and while he is older, he still longs for the company of young men. Adrien meets the young catering student Manu (Johan Libéreau), a lad whose sexual appetite is satisfied by trysts in parks, back rooms of bars, etc. Manu and his opera singer sister Julie (Julie Depardieu) live modestly in a sleazy hotel cum brothel that is under surveillance by Mehdi. Adrien and Manu strike up a friendship and are invited to join Sarah and Mehdi to Sarah's mother's cabin by the sea and while there a relationship between Manu and Mehdi begins, one that will become an affair in secret.
A strange disease comes to public attention and it is Adrien who is in charge of the investigation of the disease now called AIDS. Though Adrien's ties with Manu have become platonic while Manu see Mehdi daily, Adrien is the first to notice lesions on Manu, lesions that are the hallmark of AIDS. How this discovery affects the lives of each of the characters we have met (the 'witnesses' to a very important time in our history) serves as the crux of the story - part tragedy and part a torch of resilience the weaves the story to a close in an honest, touching but never maudlin manner.
The acting is consistently excellent, the sort of ensemble acting that keeps the focus on the message of the film rather than on individual attention to characters. The movie is beautifully photographed by Julien Hirsch and the musical score by Philippe Sarde wisely blends excerpts from Vivaldi and Mozart with original music that recalls the 1980s. This is yet another triumph for André Téchiné - a film that deserves the widest possible audience. Grady Harp
Sarah (Emmanuelle Béart) is a writer of children's books married to Mehdi (Sami Bouajila), a member of the Paris police force vice squad. They have an open marriage and have just given birth to a baby boy - a factor that disrupts their separate lives while conflicting their married life. Sarah has a physician friend Adrien (Michel Blanc, so memorable in his role in 'Monsieur Hire') who is gay, and while he is older, he still longs for the company of young men. Adrien meets the young catering student Manu (Johan Libéreau), a lad whose sexual appetite is satisfied by trysts in parks, back rooms of bars, etc. Manu and his opera singer sister Julie (Julie Depardieu) live modestly in a sleazy hotel cum brothel that is under surveillance by Mehdi. Adrien and Manu strike up a friendship and are invited to join Sarah and Mehdi to Sarah's mother's cabin by the sea and while there a relationship between Manu and Mehdi begins, one that will become an affair in secret.
A strange disease comes to public attention and it is Adrien who is in charge of the investigation of the disease now called AIDS. Though Adrien's ties with Manu have become platonic while Manu see Mehdi daily, Adrien is the first to notice lesions on Manu, lesions that are the hallmark of AIDS. How this discovery affects the lives of each of the characters we have met (the 'witnesses' to a very important time in our history) serves as the crux of the story - part tragedy and part a torch of resilience the weaves the story to a close in an honest, touching but never maudlin manner.
The acting is consistently excellent, the sort of ensemble acting that keeps the focus on the message of the film rather than on individual attention to characters. The movie is beautifully photographed by Julien Hirsch and the musical score by Philippe Sarde wisely blends excerpts from Vivaldi and Mozart with original music that recalls the 1980s. This is yet another triumph for André Téchiné - a film that deserves the widest possible audience. Grady Harp
helpful•122
- gradyharp
- Jun 28, 2008
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Tanıklar
- Filming locations
- Quai des Orfèvres, Paris 1, Paris, France(police headquarters)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $78,440
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $14,800
- Feb 3, 2008
- Gross worldwide
- $3,041,093
- Runtime1 hour 52 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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