''French Provincial'' () is a 1975 French drama film directed by

André Téchiné André Téchiné (; born 13 March 1943) is a French screenwriter and film director. He has a long and distinguished career that places him among the most accomplished post-French New Wave, New Wave French film directors. Téchiné belongs to a s ...

, starring

Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau (; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Mo ...

Michel Auclair Michel Auclair (born Vladimir Vujović, sr-cyr, Владимир Вујовић; 14 September 1922 – 7 January 1988) was an actor of Serbian and French ancestry, known best for his roles in French cinema. Auclair was born to a Serbian fat ...

and

Marie-France Pisier Marie-France Pisier (10 May 194424 April 2011) was a French actress, screenwriter, and director. She appeared in numerous films of the French New Wave, and twice earned the national César Award for César Award for Best Supporting Actress, Best ...

. The film presents an overview of French life and politics though the changes within one family in southwestern France from the 1930s through the 1970s.

Plot

At the beginning of the 20th century, Pédret, a Spanish immigrant, arrives in the southwest French country side. He becomes a blacksmith and marries Augustine, the daughter of the village baker. By 1936 Pédret’s forge has become a foundry where his three sons are the managers. Years later when Augustine, now a bourgeois matriarch, realizes that her son Hector is having an affair with Berthe, a lowly seamstress, she tries to ruin Berthe’s business and drive her out of town even if it means bribing her. But old Pédret, who knows that his sons have their spirits broken, can see that Berthe has the blunt good sense they lack, and he arranges for Bethe and Hector to be married. While the bourgeois wives of the two other sons mope and become peevish, Berthe makes herself useful. In the war, she is a heroine of the Resistance; when the business is imperiled by a strike, she settles it by acceding to the workers demands. She takes over the dominant role in management, and becomes the new matriarch as well. In contrast with the practical Berthe, Regina, her sister in law, is flighty. Dark and beautiful, Regina is married to Prosper, Pédret’s youngest son and the only one with a college education. But Regina and the handsome, refined Prosper are a mismatch. A rapacious dreamer, Regina, fed up with the dull austerity of provincial society, runs off with an American soldier. Eventually, Berthe comes to control the family's fortunes, but economic challenges in the 1950s force her to turn to an unlikely source for financial help: her obnoxious sister-in-law Regina who has come back, more stunning than ever, with an American industrialist lover. Regina may now be willing to aid Berthe in exchange for her freedom.

Cast

: Berthe *

: Hector *

: Régina * Claude Mann: Prosper * Orane Demazis: Augustine old * Aram Stephan: Pédret old * Hélène Surgère: Lucie *

Julien Guiomar Julien Guiomar (3 May 1928 in Morlaix, Finistère, Brittany – 22 November 2010 in Agen, Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine), was a French film actor. The actor had retired to the Dordogne at Monpazier. The person who incarnated Colonel Vincent in " ...

: Victor * Michèle Moretti: Pierrette * Pierre Baillot: Pierre * Marc Chapiteau: Pédret young * Françoise Lebrun: Augustine young * Jean Rougeul: Valnoble * : Richard

Analysis

Téchiné’s second film is a mix of black comedy, romantic drama and nostalgia, told in an unsettling inconsistent style. The film traces the lives of its characters through the period of Nazi occupation to the present day, but their story is secondary. The focus of the film is the family-owned factory. We see its birth, its maturing, and its decline, as if it were a living thing. Around it, times change, the people change, social attitudes and hair-styles change, but the factory remains there, immutable and indifferent. The film’s style mingles European and American directors Godard,

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci ( ; ; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved inte ...

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a German-born American film director and producer. Known for his work in numerous genres over five decades, he received numerous awards and accolades, including three Aca ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

Jacques Tati Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, filmmaker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted 46th (a list of the top 50 was ...

among others.Kael, ''When the Lights go Down'', p. 146 The flashback sequence of Pedret’s youth wings from ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...

'' and the flaming silhouettes of ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'' to '' The Conformist'' and '' The Spider's Stratagem''. French Provincial was a show case piece for legendary French actress Jeanne Moreau.Kael, ''When the Lights go Down'', p. 143 Despite the fact that her character in the film scarcely seems to age over a 30-year period, she appears perfectly at ease with this style of drama and shows a surprising comic flair in some scenes.

Reception

Famous critic

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

called the film: " Marvelous". "Téchiné and Goldin (the screenwriter) may not know anything except movies, but the way they know movies is enough for me".Kael, ''When the Lights go Down'', p. 147

Notes

References

*Kael, Pauline, ''When the Lights Go Down'', Holt, Rinheart and Winston, 1980. *Marshall, Bill, ''André Téchiné'', Manchester University Press, 2007,

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:French Provintial 1975 drama films 1975 films French drama films 1970s French-language films Films directed by André Téchiné Films scored by Philippe Sarde 1970s French films Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress César Award–winning performance