Other reviews have focused on the music, but this film is not really about guys in funny clothes with ribbons speaking French and playing cellos with 7 strings instead of 4. It is a meditation on two opposite forms of male egotism: the older genius who is too good for the world and everyone in it and the younger opportunist who will use anyone and anything – including his own talent – to get ahead. They meet, mesh, clash, and part over music for the viol (viola da gamba), not incidentally leaving the older man's daughter pregnant, ill, and ultimately a suicide. The story is narrated by the opportunist – now old himself – as a confession, to a room full of his sycophantic music students at the court of Louis XIV (the character, Marin Marais was an actual composer of the time, as was the older man, M. de Sainte Colombe). No other film since Bergman's best seduces you into such hypnotized concentration or breaks your heart with such economy of action.

What you see in Tous les Matins du Monde is basically what you choose to see. You can follow the love story line in which Marin Marais behaves as a perfect cad with Madeleine, Ste. Colombe's daughter, and soak your hankie. If you look deeper, however, you will discover a profound dialogue between Ste. Colombe and Marais about what constitutes "real" music.The acting throughout rates highest accolades, even if the melodramatic approach occasionally surges over the top. Top marks also go to the beautiful filming of nature and actors. The period music may not be to everyone's taste, yet it serves well to illustrate the difference between show-boating and creating effective music. The film moves a little slowly at times, but that can be overlooked. After all, this is a movie to contemplate, not a Saturday action flick. It's more difficult to excuse the hokey ending. On balance, this is a must-see film for anyone who has ever pondered the essence of music.

This could be the perfect movie. Visually, it's like walking through a seventeenth-century French painting. The music is rich and beautiful -- through it, we were introduced to the work of St Colombe and Marin Marais. The acting, as one would expect of French films in the the 1980s and 1990s, is consummate, and the characterization is totally convincing: the first five minutes of 'Tous les Matins du Monde'are memorable, the very best of Gerard Depardieu and French cinematography and music. The film progresses at its own speed, with the happiness, sadness, and (nostalgic) sensitivity which also characterize the Pagnol films. Could be? Is!

First things first, this is a film very much about music, so if you do not like "classical" music, then find something else. It is something like a short philosophy of music according to M. de St. Colombe and Marin Marais, two very different composers---how close the movie is to the "real" St. Colombe and Marias, confessedly, I do not know, but this is not a documentary, so it really does not matter. There is also a very beautiful exploration of love and its various manifestations in friendship, parenthood, and sexual relations. The movie is heavy, burdened by sadness and melancholy; but it is a beautiful film and worth viewing so long as you are prepared for its weight. Its tones are elegiac, autumnal, meditative, and inward, as is the haunting music given us by Jordi Savall and co. The acting, sets, and cinematography are all excellent (hence the 10 rating). If you want something light then this is not the film for you; if you are, however, in a mood for a film that mourns with dignity, then you have found the right one.