That Most Important Thing: Love (1975)
"L'important c'est d'aimer" (original title)

Servais Mont, a photographer, meets Nadine Chevalier who earns her money starring in cheap soft-core movies. Trying to help her, he borrows the money from the loan sharks to finance the ... See full summary »

Director:

Andrzej Zulawski

Writers:

Christopher Frank (novel), Christopher Frank (adaptation),

Stars:

Romy Schneider, Fabio Testi, Jacques Dutronc

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Romy Schneider	...	Nadine Chevalier
Fabio Testi	...	Servais Mont
Jacques Dutronc	...	Jacques Chevalier
Claude Dauphin	...	Mazelli
Roger Blin	...	Le père de Servais / Servais's father
Gabrielle Doulcet	...	Madame Mazelli
Michel Robin	...	Raymond Lapade
Guy Mairesse	...	Laurent Messala
Katia Tchenko	...	Myriam, la putain
Nicoletta Machiavelli	...	Luce, la femme de Lapade
Klaus Kinski	...	Karl-Heinz Zimmer
Paul Bisciglia	...	L'assistant-metteur en scène
Henri Coutet	...	Le père de Jacques (scenes deleted)
Sylvain Levignac	...	Le premier homme dans la brasserie (as Sylvain)
Andrée Tainsy	...	La mère de Jacques (scenes deleted)

Storyline

Servais Mont, a photographer, meets Nadine Chevalier who earns her money starring in cheap soft-core movies. Trying to help her, he borrows the money from the loan sharks to finance the theatrical production of 'Richard III' and gives Nadine a part. Nadine is torn apart between Servais, for whom she is falling in love, and her husband Jacques, to whom she has moral obligations.

---

Plot Keywords:

loan | photographer | love | psychodrama | stage actress | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

France Italy West Germany

Language:

French

Release Date:

April 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

That Most Important Thing: Love

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Albina Productions S.a.r.l., Rizzoli Film, TIT Filmproduktion GmbH

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min 105 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

'Romy Schneider' considered this movie her best work.

---

Quotes

Nadine Chevalier: I'm dubbing Jane Fonda.

---

Connections

References Love Among the Millionaires (1930)

User Reviews

Shouting, weeping, and all to no avail

This is a film for manic-depressives or people on amphetamines, maybe. I have rarely seen such frenetic activity outside of martial-arts pictures, yet the story is simple: a woman tires of her limp husband (Dutronc)and tries to start up with a much more masculine type (Testi). The milieu is the porn movie business which Schneider's character works in, interwoven with the classical theatre world she would like to belong to.

Romy Schneider got the Cesar award for her performance here; she pulls out all the stops to create this gifted but battered-by-life character. Pity that Zulawski couldn't craft a more balanced film around her.