Sundays and Cybele (1962)
"Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray" (original title)

After killing a child on a routine bombing mission in Vietnam, Pierre suffers from delayed stress and partial amnesia. Returning to France, he lives like a vegetable until he meets a young ... See full summary »

Director:

Serge Bourguignon

Writers:

Serge Bourguignon (scenario), Antoine Tudal (scenario),

Stars:

Hardy Krüger, Nicole Courcel, Patricia Gozzi

Won 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Hardy Krüger	...	Pierre
Nicole Courcel	...	Madeleine
Patricia Gozzi	...	Françoise / Cybèle
Daniel Ivernel	...	Carlos
André Oumansky	...	Bernard
Anne-Marie Coffinet	...	Françoise II
René Clermont	...	Le facteur
Malka Ribowska	...	La voyante (as Malka Ribovska)
Michel de Ré	...	Fiacre
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
France Anglade	...	Lulu
Florence Blot
Paul Bonifas
Serge Bourguignon	...	Le cavalier
Alain Bouvette	...	L'employé de gare
Renée Duchateau	...	L'épicière

Storyline

After killing a child on a routine bombing mission in Vietnam, Pierre suffers from delayed stress and partial amnesia. Returning to France, he lives like a vegetable until he meets a young girl who has been dumped by her father at a boarding school. Posing as her father, Pierre contrives to meet the girl every Sunday, to play with her and perhaps recover his memory. The innocent friendship is misread by nearly everyone, even people who know Pierre well. A classic of old French art films.

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Plot Keywords:

amnesia | post traumatic stress | betrayal | veteran | innocence | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France Austria

Language:

French

Release Date:

23 November 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cybele

Filming Locations:

Paris Studios Cinéma, Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fidès, Les Films Trocadero, Orsay Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Concerto for the harpsicord or organ, 6"
Music by George Frideric Handel (as Handel)

User Reviews

sweet, bitter, beautiful

This film is first and foremost beautiful. The beauty of the B&W cinematography is appalling. The composition is perfect. The delicate range of grays achieve a silky texture that has an almost tactile feeling. The music by Jarré is beautiful. The child actress Patricia Gozzi is nothing but angelical in her blooming beauty.

The story is simple; a former war pilot with war trauma and amnesia and an abandoned little girl meet by chance and desperately cling to each other so as to find company and salvation. The child becomes the more mature of the couple, the adult goes along innocently and follows her counsel, advancing inexorably to his own destruction. The well intended (well, more or less well intended) adult world does not understand the delicate platonic relation, reads it as sinful and deviant, and proceeds to destroy it. The final scene is one of the most painful and desolate in the history of cinema, even though its beauty is unforgettable.

The weakness of the movie is that it has not survived well the end of the sixties. Its aesthetics is too connected to the conventions of the time. The human relations are not real enough for our time. There is a degree of rigidity, idealization and oversimplification that does not allow the film to stay alive, as is the case with the masterpieces of Fellini and Bergman. However, this does not detract the movie from its serene beauty, its evocative power, and all the nostalgic pain of a lost love.