Elise, or Real Life (1970)
"Élise ou la vraie vie" (original title)

In 1957, Elise Le Tellier, a young woman from Bordeaux, decides to join her brother Lucien, a revolutionary who has decided to become a worker instead of a notable. Lucien has secured a ... See full summary »

Director:

Michel Drach

Writers:

Michel Drach, Claire Etcherelli (novel),

Stars:

Marie-José Nat, Mohamed Chouikh, Bernadette Lafont

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Marie-José Nat	...	Elise Le Tellier
Mohamed Chouikh	...	Arezki
Bernadette Lafont	...	Anna
Jean-Pierre Bisson	...	Lucien Le Tellier
Catherine Allégret	...	Didi
Mustapha Chadly	...	Mustapha
Alice Reichen	...	La grand-mère
Martine Chevallier	...	Marie-Louise, la belle-soeur / Sister-in-law (as Martine Chevalier)
Jean-Pierre Darras	...	Le commissaire
Yves Barsacq	...	Un policier
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
André Badin	...	Le bourgeois du métro
Andrée Champeaux	...	L'infirmière
Georges Claisse	...	Gilles - le contremaître
Jean-Louis Comolli	...	Henri - un ami de Lucien
Henri Coutet	...	Un ouvrier

Storyline

In 1957, Elise Le Tellier, a young woman from Bordeaux, decides to join her brother Lucien, a revolutionary who has decided to become a worker instead of a notable. Lucien has secured a position for her and Elise in turn works on the assembly line of a car factory. There she meets and falls in love with Arezki, a young Algerian immigrant. The conflict between France and Algeria makes their life together very difficult, despite the deep love that binds them.

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Plot Keywords:

bordeaux | paris france | based on novel | character name in title

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France Algeria

Language:

French

Release Date:

25 November 1970 (France)

Also Known As:

Elise eller det virkelige liv

Filming Locations:

Algiers, Algeria

Company Credits

Production Co:

O.N.C.I.C., Port Royal Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

French visa # 34917

User Reviews

A working class heroine is something to be.

During the Algerian war ,in France,Elise,a girl working in a factory falls in love with an Algerian activist.They will have a bad time because of the racism and the roundups.At the end of the movie,Elise knows what "la vraie vie" (true life)means.

What puzzled the audience at the time was the complete absence of music.Drach,whom I saw when he presented his movie in a theater ,answered that music was a relic from the silent era and that in many a contemporary movie (he mentioned Claude Lelouch),it almost drowned out the actors' lines.

"Elise ou la vraie vie" is a courageous worthwhile movie,which,like all the late Michel Drach movies ,is almost forgotten today