Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978)
"Préparez vos mouchoirs" (original title)

Solange is depressed: she's stopped smiling, she eats little, she says less. She has fainting fits. Her husband Raoul seeks to save her by enlisting Stephane, a stranger, to be her lover. ... See full summary »

Director:

Bertrand Blier

Writer:

Bertrand Blier

Stars:

Gérard Depardieu, Carole Laure, Patrick Dewaere

Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gérard Depardieu	...	Raoul
Carole Laure	...	Solange
Patrick Dewaere	...	Stéphane
Michel Serrault	...	Le voisin / Neighbor
Eléonore Hirt	...	Madame Beloeil
Jean Rougerie	...	Mr. Beloeil
Sylvie Joly	...	La passante / Passerbeil
Riton Liebman	...	Christian Beloeil (as Riton)
Liliane Rovère	...	Bartender
Michel Beaune	...	Le médecin dans la rue
Roger Riffard	...	Le médecin du port
André Thorent	...	Le professeur
André Lacombe	...	Le délégué syndical
David Gabison	...	Le quidam (as Alain David Gabison)
Gilberte Géniat	...	L'ouvreuse du théâtre

Storyline

Solange is depressed: she's stopped smiling, she eats little, she says less. She has fainting fits. Her husband Raoul seeks to save her by enlisting Stephane, a stranger, to be her lover. Although he listens to Mozart and has every Pocket Book arranged in alphabetical order, Stephane fails to cheer Solange. She knits. She does housework. Everyone, including their neighbor a vegetable vendor, agrees that she needs a child, yet she fails to get pregnant by either lover. The three take a job running a kids' summer camp where they meet Christian, the precocious 13-year-old son of the local factory manager. It is Christian who restores Solange to laughter.

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Plot Keywords:

13 year old | mozart | indifference | iq | bully | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

French

Release Date:

17 December 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

Filming Locations:

Ardennes, Belgium

Company Credits

Production Co:

Belga Films, C.A.P.A.C., Les Films Ariane

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007)

User Reviews

Complex, very funny, sad, very French look at love and sexual dynamics

Complex, very funny, sad, very French look at love and sexual dynamics, with terrific acting all around.

Gerard Depardieu plays a man who truly loves his wife, but can't understand her or her depression. So he decides to get her a lover to cheer her up. But it doesn't work, and now two men are bewitched and befuddled by the sad, repressed Solange.

Ultimately only a love affair with a 13 year old boy – who in many ways is the most mature character in the film – gives her joy.

Transgressive, uncomfortable, and tweaking both sides of the war of the sexes equally; men are fools who can only look at women through a narrow prism, and women are complex and weird to the point of absurdity, this is a film that makes me laugh and cringe (in a good way) in equal measure.