Before Winter Comes (2013)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Before winter comes |
| Original title | Avant l'hiver |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 2013 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Philippe Claudel |
| script | Philippe Claudel |
| production |
Yves Marmion Romain Rojtman |
| music | André Dziezuk |
| camera | Denis Lenoir |
| cut | Elisa Aboulker |
| occupation | |
| |
Before Winter Comes is a 2013 French drama directed by Philippe Claudel .
action
Paul Natkinson is a successful neurosurgeon . He has been married to Lucie for many years; their son Victor and his wife Caroline have their little daughter Emma. The family's best friend, Gérard, works as a psychiatrist in the same clinic. The family's “problem child” is Mathilde, Lucie's sister, who is repeatedly referred to psychiatry because of psychological problems.
One day, while visiting a bar, Paul is approached by the young waitress Lou. She pretends to know him because he once performed an appendectomy on her . He denies because he is a brain surgeon. After the brief encounter, Paul keeps receiving red roses. They are handed in for him at the clinic, placed on his car and also handed in at his home. Paul and Lucie wonder who the sender could be.
A little later Paul meets Lou again on the street, who speaks to him again. However, he reacts annoyed and lets her stand. At a recital that Paul attended with Lucie, he saw Lou in the audience. When he sees her buying red roses the next day, he rushes to the flower shop and tells her to leave him alone. Lou is in the shop with a friend who replies that she, and not Lou, wanted to buy the roses. In the evening, Paul visits Lou at her café and apologizes to her. They both go for a drink and she tells him about herself. She is an art student, loves museums and lives alone in France. Her wealthy mother went back to Morocco with her American husband . They exchange their phone numbers.
Paul is about to undergo a complicated brain operation on Ms. Malek. She tells him about her family, who came from Poland and were killed in World War II . She survived alone and is now glad that she passed the names of her family on to someone else in case she should die or lose memory. On the way home Paul has to take a detour and crosses a red light district where he thinks he recognizes Lou. During the operation the next day, he is unable to concentrate and is agitated and is finally replaced by the doctor Zoé Gassard. Clinic director Denis advises Paul to take a vacation.
When Zoé takes over his position, Paul sees Lou Gérard leaving the treatment room. He wants to know from Gérard what she was looking for with him, but Gérard cites medical confidentiality. There is an argument. Paul finally runs after Lou, but she makes a scene for him in the street and yells at passers-by that he thinks she is a prostitute. He meets her again while walking in the park with his granddaughter. Lou apologizes to him for her behavior. Before either of them can continue talking, Caroline appears to pick Emma up. Lou consciously says goodbye to Paul, kisses him on the cheek and goes on her terms. Paul and Caroline are amazed.
At a family reunion, Caroline tells Lucie about the encounter in the park. Paul, however, sees no reason to speak to Lucie.
Paul goes to the red light district again, where Lou joins him in the car. She explains to him that she occasionally prostitutes herself in order not to be dependent on her family's money. Every now and then she feels self-loathing. Paul wants to help her. He tells her that he grew up without a father, was an American and a member of NATO, but left France when Paul was two months old. Lou asks if he'll leave her.
Paul's relationship with Lucie becomes more distant over time, he evades her questions and accuses her of monitoring him. She traces one of his secret phone calls and learns that her competitor is called Lou Vallée.
While taking a walk with Lou, Paul discovers that he has no sexual interest in Lou, but simply enjoys being with another person freely and for no particular reason. Lou leaves when he doesn't respond to her offensive offer to kiss her. Lucie, in turn, has observed them both and accuses Paul of cheating on them. Paul then packs his things and moves into a hotel. In the near future he tries in vain to contact Lou. She is not unknown at work and at her university. He secretly gains access to Gérard's computer and learns her address from the patient's file. He meets her in her apartment. She is sick, does not accept his help and apologizes to him. Together they listen to a music recording made by their grandmother before Paul goes on her request.
In a bar he meets with Gérard, who cannot understand why Paul is questioning his life. Gérard suggests that he has always been in love with Lucie and would take Paul’s place if he could. However, Paul makes it clear that he never stopped loving Lucie.
Surprisingly, Paul is picked up by two police officers in the evening and taken to Lou's apartment. She cut her wrists in the bathtub and bled to death. Paul is questioned about Lou and his relationship with her. He denies a sexual relationship with her and says that she let him turn the time back to the beginning. She had made him young again and had the feeling of returning to a point where relationships were just beginning. Paul now learns that Lou and a friend have been hunting men since they were 15 and that they end up killing their suitors. Her real name is Sabiah Laraoui and she comes from a poor family in northern France. Paul was offended. Lucie picks him up from the police.
Some time later, Paul was sitting with his friends in good company. Gérard says that it was exactly 34 years ago that he, Paul and Lucie met for the first time. Paul wants to get cigars and discovers in his coat pocket the music recording that Lou played for him when they last met. He inserts the cassette and hears a recording of her - the song of the corn poppy ( Comme un p'tit coquelicot, Like a little corn poppy), which is preferable to forget-me-nots and roses.
production
Before Winter Comes , after So Many Years I Love You and Tous les Soleils, it was the third film directed by Philippe Claudel. He described this film as very personal and partly autobiographical, so he found himself in the figure of the doubting Paul, which he wrote for Daniel Auteuil. Auteuil only agreed to take on the role after a year to think about it, fearing that it would put too much psychological strain on him.
The critics saw the film as a continuation of Claudel's “Seasons Films”, so stand So many years I love you for spring, Tous les soleils for summer and Before winter comes for autumn. In this context, Claudel himself described autumn as his favorite time of year and, in addition to Claude Sautets, named Alfred Hitchcock's work as the inspiration for this film.
The film was shot in Luxembourg , among others . The film construction came from Samuel Deshors . As in his directorial debut, Claudel cast Kristin Scott Thomas again with a leading role. During the shoot, there were repeated arguments between her and Claudel, so that Claudel announced that he would no longer shoot with her in the future.
The film opened in French cinemas on November 27, 2013, where it was seen by around 213,000 people. The film was released on DVD in France in April 2014. In Germany, it was released on November 13, 2014.
criticism
Le Monde found the film to be length but refined in detail. The directorial work with the detail of the red roses pervading the film and the impeccable (“irréprochable”) play of the actors were particularly emphasized. For Le Nouvel Observateur the plot was an unconscious but pale reference to Michael Haneke's Caché , who also echoes Claude Sautet's A Heart in Winter , but does not match the quality of these films. Before winter comes, have a clinical cold that doesn't touch. Gerhard Midding from epd Film awarded 3 out of 5 stars and judged that “Claudel [...] with this film is the legacy of Claude Sautet” with “explicit references and with a certain humility”.
Web links
- Before winter arrives in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Nicolas Crousse: Philippe Claudel: "C'est mon dernier film-avec Kristin Scott Thomas" . lesoir.be, November 27, 2013.
- ^ Claire Micallef: "Avant l'hiver" avec Daniel Auteuil: un film bien pâle sauvé by Kristin Scott-Thomas . leplus.nouvelobs.com, November 29, 2013.
- ↑ Nathalie Simon: Avant l'hiver: Philippe Claudel se joue des apparences . lefigaro.fr, November 26, 2013.
- ↑ See Box Office on allocine.fr
- ↑ Noémie Luchiani: "Avant l'hiver" terribles roses rouges . lemonde.fr, November 26, 2013.
- ^ Claire Micallef: "Avant l'hiver" avec Daniel Auteuil: un film bien pâle sauvé by Kristin Scott-Thomas . leplus.nouvelobs.com, November 29, 2013.
- ↑ Gerhard Midding: Review of Before Winter Comes . epd-film.de, October 20, 2014.