The Louvre

Let's just say this upfront, it has nothing to do with the Da Vinci Code so forget about that. It's an NBC News documentary from the '70s, shot on film with professional lighting and voicever by Charles Boyer, mainly about the long and complicated history of the building. It's very, very well done, with high production values - not like a Rick Steves or Samantha Brown traveldoc (not that there's anything wrong with those).As others have noted, the film stock has not aged as well as one might like, and while the audio is very good, the visual is perhaps a 3.5-4 out of 5. Also, there's a little bit of staging every so often with spectators. The most effective bit is a running feature where a costumed arm adds to and rearranges the wings and corridors of the Louvre to show how it changed over time (and it changed a lot). Boyer has a good script to work with and does a professional job of narration.It's only an hour long so it catches your attention, gives you useful info, and then you're done. It deals with the Mona Lisa only as one of thousands of works of art, so don't buy this hoping for a documentary on that subject. What it is, is a very professional overview of the joint. Good for people who are planning to go and want to take a peek, and those who have been and want to remember. This is a good gift for an older Francophile.

Filmed decades ago, this film truly shows its age. Not only can one tell that it is dated due to the low resolution of the images, and the clothing of the visitors, but one could also perhaps argue in its attitude to the subject.Certainly it has its interesting moments, and some of the information is rather intriguing to know, but it also comes across as pompous and annoying at times. For example, the producers spend too much time focusing on paintings that were created to "toot the horn" so to speak of the nobility, or at least the very rich. Many of these paintings are from the era of crazy wigs and out-of-control ribbons...which is fine, but tiresome to dwell on at length. I just found myself wanting a break from the more conceited side of art.The narrator also makes absurd comments about how the Louvre is "immortal" and "indestructible," as well as making the rather pompous assertion that the greatest work of art there is the actual Louvre itself. (I doubt that the Louvre would be so famous today if it had been ransacked of all its art in the past.)It was a relief to see some of the art from other eras that did not involve over-the-top men in high heels and grey wigs, but overall this film seemed to have a certain era that it preferred, as well as a certain style, and it tended to stick with it. If overt pictorial bragging of the rich in regards to themselves and their country is your style, then you might like this a lot more than me.

I enjoyed seeing the historical progress of what we now know as the Louvre, but the makers of this film did not do their homework on some issues and got them wrong. Charles Boyer is a great narrator, but how could he tell us that "No one knows where the word 'Louvre' comes from," and then proceed to tell us it might be a medieval French word for "lepers?" Granted, prisoners and lepers were once kept in the edifice, and that is a fascinating fact, but come on: the name "Louvre" comes from the French word for "the opening," the same way the phrase "louvered blinds" does. The documentary is still worth watching, just to see the steps it went through at different stages of history, as it grew in size. And it was interesting to learn that the French managed to get every last piece of art removed in time to save them from the invading Nazis in WWII. The film does not show you much of the art inside -- this is largely a step-by-step show about how the architecture was put together and used at different times in history, and occasionally nearly destroyed. The film was clearly made before the current entryway was created, so there is nothing on that. I love history, so I was glad I watched, but don't use Charles Boyer as your guru when it comes to etymology!

This is a loving tribute to the Louvre narrated with enthusiasm and pride by French actor Charles Boyer. The museum turns out to have just as wonderful and amazing a history as any of the great works of art it houses. I first saw this way back in high school and it left such an impression on me that more than 30 years later I still remember many parts of it. One of the most interesting story telling devices are the models used to show how the Louvre grew, expanded, and changed over the course of time. All the major historic figures of France seem to have been involved with this great monument over its life and their lives are inevitably intertwined in a great historic narrative. The Louvre has such a fantastic story of its own that you could not have made up anything more exciting and unbelievable if you tried. Watch this and you will spend more time marveling at the structure than the Mona Lisa.Follow this up by watching The Monuments Men. In The Louvre you find out what the French did to preserve all the great works in the museum. The Monuments Men is another great story about other great art works protected from the Nazi.

Una guida fatta molto bene, con varie lingue tra cui l'italiano.Spiega le origini lel Louvre e mostra un po' tutte le varie parti del museo.Con Amazon Prime arriva prima.

ce documentaire vous donne un apperçu du louvre, en effet impossible de montrer tout le louvre on pourrais y consacrer au moins 20 DVD puisque si on voulais visiter le louvre jour et nuit sans arrêt en regardant chaque oeuvre pendant 1mn il faudrait 3 mois, un des plus grand musées du monde que j'ai visité 4 X

Un délicat équilibre entre l'histoire du moment et les collections du musée. Un vocabulaire accessible, ni simpliste ni élitiste.La visite respecte la géographie des salles et des collections, au risque de retours dans la chronologie. C'est un parti cohérent. On évite la collection d'anecdotes et les zooms excessifs sur certaines oeuvres. Bref, un fondamental pour préparer ou garder en mémoire la visite du Louvre.

Le prix en vaut la peine. C'est de la belle qualité.Du beau matériel. Un achat dont nous sommes très content. Chouette DVD.

Très beau documentaire. Belles images sur les différentes salles de ce musée si riche, ce qui donne envie de le découvrir ou ré-découvrir.On ne s'ennuie pas un instant, belle visite au cœur de l'Histoire.