Life is a long, calm river

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Movie
German title Life is a long, calm river
Original title La Vie est un long fleuve tranquille
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1988
length 90 minutes
Age rating FSK 16 (VHS)
FSK 12 (DVD)
Rod
Director Étienne Chatiliez
script Étienne Chatiliez,
Florence Quentin
production Charles Gassot
music Gérard Kawczynski
camera Pascal Lebègue
cut Chantal Delattre
occupation

Life is a long, calm river (original title: La Vie est un long fleuve tranquille ) is a French feature film by Étienne Chatiliez from 1988.

action

The nurse Josette, out of anger about her boss and lover, Dr. Mavial, who would rather spend Christmas with his wife than with her, two babies. So it happens that Momo (Maurice), who actually belongs to the rich and educated Le Quesnoy family , grows up with the impoverished Groseilles, while Bernadette mistakenly lives with the upper-class Le Quesnoy family.

After twelve years, the truth finally emerges: When Dr. Even after his wife's death, Mavial has no intention of marrying Josette, writes these three letters ; to the two families of the swapped infants and to Dr. Mavial, in which she confesses her act.

M. Le Quesnoy then decides to take Momo over. He offers the Groseille family 20,000 francs if they leave Momo to him. The Groseilles are happy to accept this offer, as they have been in financial difficulties for some time, and M. Le Quesnoy can take his son home with him. At first everything seems to be in perfect order, because Momo is settling in well, but he misses his former family and often goes to visit them and his old friends.

He tells Bernadette who her real parents are, so that she runs away and is arrested by the police . The other children of Le Quesnoy are also no longer as good as they used to be. On the contrary: despite the bathing ban, they go swimming with the Groseilles in a dirty canal and the eldest son steals his father's car to impress his new girlfriend, Roselyne Groseille.

In the last scene you can see Dr. Mavial and Josette together on the beach . She looks out to sea, smiling and satisfied, while Mavial sits tired and slumped in an armchair. The scene is underlined by the triumphant chanson Paris en colère, sung by Mireille Mathieu .

background

This is the first feature film by director Ètienne Chatiliez, previously he had only made commercials.

The song Jésus reviens , which was voiced in the film by Father Auberger (Patrick Bouchitey) and written especially for the film, achieved cult status so quickly in France that it was decided to release a single. In the film, the song is performed by Father Auberger and various young people during the parish festival of a conservative parish.

In the end credits, thanks are given to the pop group Les Rita Mitsouko , whose song “C'est comme ça” is used in the film.

Reviews

The film-dienst judged: “Stories like this only work in fairy tales or in crude, comical folk plays, and newcomer Etienne Chatiliez also told his funny and fast-paced comedy with this mixture. It goes without saying that the 'upside-down' world in which the children live is good for all sorts of little punchlines, and Chatiliez also understands how to describe the two parents' houses as comical opposites so bizarre that, in addition to the very quick laughing success, there are also a few social satirical peaks fall off - not too many, but enough not to let the story go down completely to a crude laughing movie. "

Awards

Étienne Chatiliez's film was nominated in seven categories at the 1989 Césars awards ceremony and was among others. a. in addition to Bruno Nuytten's artist biography Camille Claudel and Luc Besson's underwater epic Im Rausch der Tief as a favorite at the most important French film award. With four trophies won ( best debut , screenplay , Hélène Vincent as best supporting actress and Valérie Lalonde as best young actress ), the comedy became the second most successful film of the evening behind Camille Claudel (7 wins).

César 1989
  • Best first work
  • Best script
  • Best Supporting Actress (Hélène Vincent)
  • Best Young Actress (Valérie Lalonde)
    • nominated in the categories

literature

  • Quentin, Florence: La vie est un long fleuve tranquille . Ramsay, Paris 1988, ISBN 285956697X (French edition).
  • Chapman, Rosemary; Hewitt, Nicholas: Popular culture and mass communication in twentieth-century France . Lewiston, E. Mellen Press, New York 1992, ISBN 0773494995 (English edition).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Film review by Josef Schnelle in film-dienst , 24/1988.