1) In a question from my teacher's leaflet phrased "What does Dédé mean by *that quote*?" I wrote
By that, Dédé means that through Caroline's example (that is, her loud and raptuous laughter and enjoyment of her friends), that him and Jeannette will one day also be like this, but even more so. Teacher added comments... Seeing as how Caroline has gone through the concentration camps, Dédé probably sees this as how they are always happy. Put In the context of his previous comments about her (le plus ça a souffert, le plus ça garde le moral, le plus ça aime la vie...) this attributes to these experiences in the camps, so this is probably how. But on the other hand, the original quote (J'ai bien peur qu'on finisse encore plus cons et encore plus vieux...) can say that younger people like him and Jeannette are more 'stupid', having not gone through experiences like Caroline's generation, so they will be even worse than Caroline and her friends.
2) Are you referring to the narration at the very end before the credits? Haven't done Extract 5 analysis in depth yet, but it says something like..
"Marius et Jeannett reposeront en paix dans le petit cimitière de l'Estaque où reposeront Dédé etc....
et des millions d'ouvriers inconnus a` qui ce film est dédié."
If one reflects upon the film as a whole one can see that lives of normal workers, the 'ouvriers' are represented. Through Jeannette's struggles with her job at the supermarket, Marius' lying about the limping for the job, M. Ebrard's countless jobs etc... - that created a snapshot and something with which the viewers, that would be, 'les ouvriers', would empathise. I think the significance of the dedication lies with the fact that Guédiguian acknowledges and writes films about their world, and brings the viewer into a personal level with the film, by mentioning them. Also by calling them 'les ouvriers
inconnus', he makes a final point that people in Marius'/Jeannette's/Caroline's/Dédé's etc.. social level is often ignored by the people 'higher up' and more fortunate on this social scale, effectively saying that well, no-one cares about them sort of... This ignorance of the 'lower classes' by the upper class is evident in the narrator's comments on what Magali becomes.
"Magali est devenue journaliste et elle a écrit 'Les murs des pauvres de l'Estaque sont peints par Cézanne, et finissent fatalement sur les murs des riches."
- that the world of Marius/Jeannette etc is captured by an artist, but yet ironically it rests in insignifcance, just prettying up the walls of rich people.
So I guess the dedication is just a final emphasis and observation of the world Guédiguian was trying to portray.
I shall go to bed now... I'm sorry if none of that makes sense, cos having re read some of it it doesn't to me! Midnight is not meant for thinking. Hope you got some direction out of that, even if it went in circles...
