"Goodbye from Heaven" takes us back to 1918, on the eve of the Armistice of World War I, when the war was coming to an end. Edward Perico (Played by Naville Perez Biscayat) and Albert Merrard (Played by Albert Dupont Thiel) and other soldiers of the same company were ordered to march for the last time into the no-man's land between their positions. Commander Henry Duné-Pradale (Roland Lafayette) ordered them to charge towards the front line of the Somme positions, during which Edward saved Albert's life. But as the two prepared to retreat, Edward was wounded in the blast, his jaw blown off, permanently disfigured.
Upon returning to France, Edward fell into a deep depression, refusing to see his family and faking the illusion that he was dead. He hides his face behind a series of elaborate and ornate masks and makes friends with the orphan Louise (Played by Eloise Balst) next door. Guilty as a survivor, Albert eventually agreed to Edward's earth-shattering plan to collect money from local governments with a series of fictitious war memorials that they did not intend to build.
Navel Perez Biscayate as Edward Perico
The film is based on Pierre Lemet's novel of the same name. Albert Dupont Thiel, who is also a screenwriter and director, is not satisfied with committing himself behind the scenes, but also gives full play to his professional actor strength, personally playing the male protagonist Albert Maillard.
The story is set up by a French Foreign Legion officer in Morocco and told in flashback flashbacks, and because of the memoir narrative, the French in the story always has a sense of unreality that is detached from reality. Reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Genet's film, Goodbye to Heaven bears a visual resemblance to Angel Amelie's fashion depiction of the marvelous and quirky Paris. But to be precise, Goodbye to Heaven is more like the dark antithesis of Jean-Pierre's The Long Marriage. Both films involve France's resurgence after World War I, the narrative style is lighthearted without diminishing the seriousness of the subject, and the overly heavy sense of oppression is indeed avoided as the story tends darker.
Two men and a girl form a temporary family
If there's anything wrong with that, the first thing worth mentioning is that this story is unusual. What the two protagonists do is essentially a fraud, and although they deceive the profiteer politicians who make a windfall from war, this motivation is not enough to win the audience's favor, and it will also have an impact on the character's image. The bad guys are also liars, so it's hard to see what's the difference between the protagonist and the villain. However, "Goodbye to Heaven" tells this unusual story through this interesting contrasting structure - dark, but lighthearted; Sad, but uplifting.
Edward, immersed in solitude, found identity and purpose in both his creation and louise's company. He paints his own face on the mask he wears, conveying through craftsmanship an expression that his face cannot convey. He isolated himself from the world by suspending his death, thus creating the most authentic sense of outsider art. Navel Perez Biscayate, who plays Edward, performs extremely well, hiding behind a series of lavish paper masks for most of the film, performing with his eyes and monosyllabic purrs. But we can fully understand Him and feel His pain acutely.
Albert Dupont Thiel as Albert Mailard
Dupont Thiel, who plays Albert, tried his best to show the character's cowardly character of resigning himself to fate. He was deeply indebted to his comrade Edward, who had saved his life, which led him to choose to participate in the fraud against his will.
The most impressive was the wonderful performance of Roland Lafayette, who played Army Captain Prader. He played this vile villain, playboy, and reckless murderer very freely, and it can be said that this is indeed a "perfect" bad guy who makes people grit their teeth.
In addition, "Goodbye to Heaven" also presents us with a lot of impressive and beautiful shots. The film's cinematography is creative and flexible, and always loses no time in presenting us with wonderful aerial perspective shots, especially the battlefield and war cemetery, which shows the severity of casualties.
With chic visuals and an almost fanciful aesthetic, Goodbye to Heaven is very successful in combining seriousness and whimsical expressions. Although the entry point is a bit outrageous, its theme is universal, and such a touching, interesting and innovative film is well worth enjoying on the big screen.