xaviertoy This adaptation of the stage play is so dated that it almost overshadows the amazing performances. Elly Stone does not have your typical voice but she does have all the power and passion that you could ever add to an interpretation of a Brel song. Watching her sing "Sons of..." is the highpoint of the film. The worst thing about this film is it starts out so poorly it is hard to recover. The opening renditions are very poorly shot. and there are some non-singing, non-vocal moments of "surrealism" that are too awful to be believed. But as we settle into the idea of not having a plot and not apologizing for this fact, the songs become more straight-forward performances. The heartbreaking "Song for Old Lovers" is the highpoint towards the end. It is, however, unfortunate that such a crazy song as sung by Ms. Stone, namely "Carousel", is ruined by some very petty editing "techniques" that climaxes in an image we've already seen and that wasn't effective the first time.Some other song highlights are "Next" and "Mathilde", but it is Ms. Stone that really makes you feel the urgency of these songs. If we could just watch her and the other cast just perform these the way they did on stage, it would have been a better film. But the director decides to rely on some cinematic tricks that just look worse after time.As for Brel's appearance, it is slightly anti-climactic, but utterly moving. His is the saddest and most recognizable of all the songs gathered here, and in its original French the most authentic. We should consider ourselves lucky for the documentation of that moment. I would advise anyone who is willing to watch this to skip the first 8 chapters or so, and start with "Alone" sung by the Priest at the funeral. Then the film is shorter and you miss the embarrassing opening numbers...

whist69 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!!!!

David Hutchinson How rare it is for a musical to be filmed with members of its original stage cast! In this case, 1/2 of the stage version(Elly Stone and Mort Shuman) star, along with a cast replacement, Joe Masielle(another original member, Shawn Elliott, is in the background chorus). AND, as a special plus, this musical revue's subject appears to perform a song himself. The eclectic non-book of "Brel" doesn't necessarily translate well on screen. Ahhhh...but the Songs! Rendered with impeccable feelings of passion, regret and desire, Mr. Brel IS truely alive and well. This film is truly a haunting experience, and make anyone a fan of the late Belgian songmaster.

musicwad I love this film because I loved the music... Jacques Brel is a talented songwriter... he writes with much emotion and feeling. I wish this film was available on Video or broadcasted again on television. I have not seen it for over a decade.Hopefully, it will be revived soon or made available to the public...As long as someone listens to his music... Jacques Brel is still Alive and Well and Living in Paris.