'Laissez-Passer', Tavernier’s 20th movie, retains the freshness and lightness of touch of his first, 'THE CLOCKMAKER OF ST.PAUL'. 'When I begin a film', he says, 'I don’t have all the answers. I discover things along the way. I never set out to defend pre-conceived ideas. I make films to learn and not to teach.' DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT Were things as black and white as people subsequently made out? Where do you draw the line between collaboration, survival and resistance? No film has ever dealt with these issues. Laissez-Passer is set during the German occupation but it is not a war film. The dramatic tension comes from the energy, rhythm and multiple contradictory sentiments - comedy, tragedy, emotion - that ricochet off each other within a single scene. The story is full of paradoxes. Firstly, because everybody at the time was on thin ice. They never knew what the next day would bring. So, we have scenes that start out as comedy and then we’re suddenly reminded that there was always the danger of being rounded up or killed. All against the background of people trying to make movies for a German company. Bertrand Tavernier

>> Director's Filmograpy >> Interview with the Director-1 >> Interview with the Director-2