Galette
Galette (from the Norman language, Norman word ''gale'', meaning 'flat cake') is a term used in French cuisine to designate various types of flat round or freeform crusty cakes, or, in the case of a Breton galette ( ; ), a pancake made with buck ...
s of
Pont-Aven
Pont-Aven (; in Breton) is a commune in the Finistère department in the Brittany region in Northwestern France.
Demographics
Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are called in French. Pont-Aven absorbed the former commune of Nizon in 1954, which had ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by Joël Séria.
Plot
Henri Serin (Jean-Pierre Marielle) is a middle-aged travelling umbrella salesman from
Saumur
Saumur () is a Communes of France, commune in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department in western France.
The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgu ...
who lives a sexless and unhappy married life with his puritan wife (Gisèle Grimm) and two children. Painting is the only true passion of Henri but he also has an affection for female buttocks. One night, on the roads of
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
he hits a boar with his car. Émile (Bernard Fresson), a rude and carefree painter who lives in a cottage near Riec-sur-Belon meets Henri and invites him to stay at his house while the car is being fixed. Henri falls in love with Émile's Canadian live-in girlfriend Angela (Dolores McDonough) who draws Henri's attention with her beautiful buttocks. Henri and Angela leave Émile after a violent confrontation and move to Pont-Aven, 'the city of painters'. Angela encourages Henri to continue his life as a painter and he sees this as an opportunity to leave his earlier life behind. However, one day Angela suddenly leaves him and disappears, and Henri becomes a drunkard, butt of jokes in the town, and a painter unable to sell a single painting. Marie (Jeanne Goupil), the teenage maid working at the
pension
A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...
Henri stays, is apparently in love with him but he seems to neglect her because his mind is too occupied with Angela. However, at a kermesse where the two sing ''Kenavo'' by
Théodore Botrel
Jean-Baptiste-Théodore-Marie Botrel (14 September 1868 – 28 July 1925) was a French singer-songwriter, poet and playwright. He is best known for his popular songs about his native Brittany, of which the most famous is ''La Paimpolaise''. Dur ...
, Henri faces his true feelings for Marie. He finds pure love and a pair of beautiful buttocks in her and decides to make a new start in his life. Eventually, Henri and Marie begin to live together and are seen happily selling galettes and toffee apples on a
Névez
Névez (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, in north-western France.
''Nevez'' means "new" in Breton language, Breton. The name is thought to hav ...
Claude Piéplu
Claude Léon Auguste Piéplu (9 May 1923, Paris – 24 May 2006, Paris) was a French theatre, film and television actor. He was known for his hoarse and frayed voice.Andréa Ferréol as Madame Liquois
* Bernard Fresson as Émile
* Martine Ferrière as the pilgrim's sister
* Gisèle Grimm as Madame Serin
*
Dominique Lavanant
Dominique Lavanant (born 24 May 1944) is a French film and theatrical actress. She is known for her comedy skills especially with posh and distinguished characters like Rosalind Russell's; characters often defined by the adjective ''BCBG'', ' ...
as Marie Pape
* Nathalie Drivet as Ida
* Agnès Van Waerbeke as the naked girl