''When the Sea Rises'' (french: Quand la mer monte...) is a 2004 French-Belgian romantic comedy film directed by

Yolande Moreau Yolande Moreau (born 27 February 1953) is a Belgian comedian, actress, film director and screenwriter. She has won three César Awards from four nominations. Career She made her cinematic debut with director Agnès Varda in two movies: Sept pi� ...

and Gilles Porte. It was Moreau's directorial debut.

Plot

Irène is an actress who performs her

one-person show A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including auto ...

all over northern France. One day she is heading for a new town when her car breaks down. On the countryside she is picked up by a travelling stranger who rides a Scooter. He introduces himself as Dries and gives her a lift. She rewards him with a ticket for her show. When he arrives there she involves him in her performance. The next evening he returns and feels he must protect her against perturbators in the audience. She doesn't appreciate the way he tries to take care of this matter. They have a considerable dispute which eventually ends in a reconciliation. This marks the beginning of a love affair.

Cast

as Irène * Wim Willaert as Dries *

Olivier Gourmet Olivier Gourmet (born 22 July 1963) is a Belgian actor. Gourmet was born in Namur. He won the Best Actor award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for his role in '' Le Fils'' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. He also appeared in ''La Promesse ...

as The cop *

Jackie Berroyer Jackie Berroyer (born 24 May 1946) is a French actor, comedian and writer. Filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berroyer, Jackie 1946 births Living people French male film actors French male television actors 20th-c ...

as Béthune *

Philippe Duquesne Philippe Duquesne (born 30 June 1965) is a French actor. He is best known for playing in the cult TV series '' Les Deschiens'' (1993–2002), in which he plays alongside Yolande Moreau Yolande Moreau (born 27 February 1953) is a Belgian come ...

as Café's owner *

Jacques Bonnaffé Jacques Bonnaffé (born 22 June 1958) is a French actor and stage director. He has appeared in more than ninety films since 1980. Debut Jacques Bonnaffé was formed at the Lille Conservatory after his high school years in Douai (North) where he ...

as The server *

Séverine Caneele Séverine Caneele (born 10 May 1974) is a Belgian film actress. She won the award for Best Actress at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival for the film ''L'humanité''. Filmography * ''L'humanité ''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. ...

as The maid * Bouli Lanners as The market's owner * Jan Hammenecker as Jan * Vincent Mahieu as Yves * Nand Buyl as Dries's father * Emmy Leemans as Dries's mother * Jean-François Picotin as Fifi * François Morel as TV Host

Critical reception

The film received critical acclaim. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that 90% of 20 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 6.5 out of 10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gave the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on eight critics.

Background

The film title is an homage to the French folk singer

Raoul de Godewaersvelde Raoul de Godewaersvelde (born Francis Albert Victor Delbarre) (28 January 1928 – 14 April 1977) was a French singer. Born in Lille, he was a member of the group ''Les Capenoules''. His best known song is undoubtedly "Quand la mer monte", writ ...

whose song "Quand la mer monte" is a re-occurring theme throughout the film.

Awards

César Award for Best Debut Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * C ...

(Yolande Moreau and Gilles Porte) *

César Award for Best Actress The César Award for Best Actress (french: César de la meilleure actrice, link=no) is one of the César Awards, presented annually by the ''Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma'' to recognize the outstanding performance in a leading role o ...

(Yolande Moreau) *

Louis Delluc Prize The Louis Delluc Prize (french: Prix Louis-Delluc ) is a French film award presented annually since 1937. The award is bestowed to the Best Film and Best First Film of the year on the second week of each December. The jury is composed of 20 members, ...

for Best First Film

References

External links

* * * * 2004 films 2004 romantic comedy films French romantic comedy films Films about actors César Award winners Films set in France Louis Delluc Prize winners Best First Feature Film César Award winners 2004 directorial debut films Films featuring a Best Actress César Award-winning performance 2000s French-language films 2000s French films {{2000s-France-film-stub