Bertrand Tavernier's magnificent portrait of French family life on the brink of World War I
In France, before WWI. As every Sunday, an old painter living in the country is visited by his son Gonzague, coming with his wife and his three children. Then his daugther Irene arrives. She is always in a hurry, she lives alone and does not come so often... An intimist chronicle in which what is not shown, what is guessed, is more important than how it looks, dealing with what each character expects of life.
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- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Oct 20257/10
Did you know that is was Canius Fanius who forbade the rearing of chickens on the streets of ancient Rome? That’s what you learn from a weekly lunch with your ageing father/grandfather and what “Msr. Ladmiral” (Louis Decreux) imparts to his visiting son “Gonzague” (Michel Aumont) who is visiting for Sunday lunch with his wife “Mercédès” (Monique Chaumette) and three children. Although they all get on fine, I think for the family travelling from Paris this has become a bit of a chore - but he is a jolly old painter who adores his three grandchildren. On this particular weekend, an unexpected whirlwind arrives in the form of daughter “Irène” (Sabine Azéma) - complete with her motor car. Unlike her sibling, she is unmarried and visits far less often but it’s quite clear that she is the apple of the old man’s eye and he is delighted to have them all around him for a day. As that day pans out we begin to learn a little of their family dynamic and, through a few almost sepia-style recollections, we look back upon his own childhood at their idyllic rural mansion. There is something bucolically eccentric about the style of this film, indeed I kept seeing William Hartnell in Decreux’s shoes
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Cast
- Sabine AzémaIréne
- Louis DucreuxMonsieur Ladmiral
- Michel AumontGonzague
- Monique ChaumetteMercedes
- Geneviève MnichMarie-Thérèse
- Thomas DuvalEmile
- Quentin OgierLucien
- Katia WostrikoffMireille
- Claude WinterMadame Ladmiral
- Jean-Roger Milole pêcheur
Crew
- Bertrand TavernierDirector
- Colo Tavernier O'HaganScreenplay
- Bertrand TavernierScreenplay
- Pierre BostNovel
- Bruno de KeyzerDirector of Photography
- Philippe SardeOriginal Music Composer
- Gabriel FauréOriginal Music Composer
- Marc PerroneOriginal Music Composer
- Armand PsennyEditor
- Bertrand TavernierProducer
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