Life and Nothing But is a French film by director Bertrand Tavernier that is cinematically exquisite and philosophically engaging. In the French countryside during 1920, a major (Philippe Noiret) heads an operation set up to find and identify an estimated 350,000 soldiers reported missing in action. The gruff and war weary officer is moved by two women among the thousands seeking their lost husbands, sons, and boyfriends. Life and Nothing But exposes the wall of fear that exists between men who function best in war and women who are experts in love. This remarkable film about post World War I France succeeds both as an historical drama of a nation in mourning and as an intimate depiction of individuals who are revived by their encounter with each other.