60-70s Hits in Notre Salut at Cannes
The feature film mixes Pop Corn and Life is Life with Occupation scenes, a deliberate choice by the director.
The film Notre Salut introduced modern songs into its World War II setting. At the 79th Cannes Film Festival, the crew marched to Pop Corn, a 1969 electro piece by Gershon Kingsley, also known through Hot Butter and Crazy Frog. A few minutes later Sounds Like a Melody by Alphaville and Life is Life by Opus punctuated archival footage of Marshal Pétain in Vichy. Emmanuel Marre explains that these anachronisms aim to create a “sense of being in the present”, far from mere provocation, and to show that some people were happy at the time. According to AlloCiné, the director feared the musical choices might be seen as simple effects.