Alicia I love this movie so much

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Alexander Werner "Hello Goodbye" is a movie about a well-to-do and established French family of assimilated Jews. Alain Gaash is Jewish but not circumcised, and married to Gisèle, who converted to Judaism in order to marry him. His mother is no less ignorant about Judaism.When their son decides to marry a Christian woman in a Church, the family loses the last piece of their Jewish identity - the progeny of their son will not be Jewish.Tired of commercialism and looking to find new meaning of life, the couple decides to emigrate to Israel. Gisèle needs to crash the car given to her by Alain to show the seriousness of her intentions.The movie shows quite well Israeli environment. Skilled crooks co-exist together with kind and generous families, ready to share with the newcomers the scarce goods they have themselves. The line of people bringing to Gaashes various household items is a very touching moment.Gisèle finds someone who calls himself a "Rabbi" - may be a rare case of a Reform Rabbi, or, more likely, just a fake. This "Rabbi", while throwing high theological concepts to a newcomer who is not ready to comprehend them is just a show-off, who goes for mixed dancing forbidden by the Jewish law, smokes weed and doesn't mind having an affair with a married woman, which is prohibited even stricter. But Gisèle intuitively understands that the "Rabbi" is a joke and does not fall for him.Another important episode in Alain's life is a circumcision. Many adults coming to Israel undertake it. The movies erroneously claims that no anesthesia is allowed during the procedure.Alain finds a job as a car washer, rather than a doctor. This change affected so many immigrants to Israel. There are stories of cleaning ladies in the Knesset saving lives due to their training as doctors, and security guards solve famous Math tasks, earning various prizes and awards. Alain goes through that route as well.Without re-telling the whole movie, the final scene is devoted to the dilemma: to stay in Israel with inferior job on inferior pay under inferior circumstances, or to return to France and to regain the prosperity and familiar conditions.At the end, Alain and Gisèle decide to stay in Israel, like many others. What keeps them there, the warmth of many Israelis, the built-in optimism so explicitly felt in the country, a hope for a better future or the instinctive love Jews may feel for The Land of Israel - we may only guess. But they stay.This movie is not a French comedy, and neither it is a thriller. It is a movie where serious philosophical picture is hidden behind tiny comedies and dramas. I think the movie is grossly under-rated. Enjoy it!

film_ophile My take on this film is that it is a very funny tongue-in-cheek farce that also asks some serious questions about identity. Finding humor in both those Jews who obsess over Jewish identity and those that are coverts to Judaism who also obsess over Judaism, I laughed continually through the film's first half. As you would hope w/ pros Ardant and Depardieu, the acting is spot on.Very believable until things start to go over the top soon after they reach Israel. It slows down after that and rambles quite a bit, and the ending is a cop-out,but I am very grateful for the laughs. Actually if one looks seriously at the film, it addresses some very valid questions about the role of religion,race, nationality and community in one's identity, particularly as one grows older.

rasecz A lightweight comedy whose humor depends largely on the inadequacies of a non-observant French Jewish doctor who emigrates with his converted wife to Israel. The first half is the one that draws the most laughs (mostly just chuckles), while the second half concentrates on developing the story of a husband and wife relationship that is breaking apart. There is a genuinely humorous gag near the beginning but otherwise the farcical elements of the story are only mildly funny.Not surprisingly, a comedy such as this is built on a long string of contrivances that ends up taking a toll on one's patience. One hour into, I could not help but feel a bit exasperated with the story. It's the kind of film that is made for TV audiences.

Bernie157 A barely religious French Jewish gynecologist is cajoled and convinced by his converted-to-Judaism wife that she really wants to move to Israel to explore their Jewish roots. On a brief exploratory visit, he is promised a job at an Israeli hospital when a current gynecologist moves to the US. Also they buy into an apartment which is under construction but ought to be finished soon. So they break it to his parents and family, pack up their stuff, and move to Israel The doctor who was supposed to move to the US has reasons for delaying, the apartment construction is stalled due to finances, which leads to a lot of problems including that he takes a job washing cars at a hotel. He decides to go back to France but his wife doesn't want to. Eventually, ....