Céleste (1980)

In 1914, with men gone to war, Marcel Proust hired Céleste Albaret as his attendant. More than eight years later, she was at his side when he died. During this entire time, she only entered... See full summary »

Director:

Percy Adlon

Writers:

Percy Adlon, Celeste Albaret (novel)

Stars:

Eva Mattes, Jürgen Arndt, Norbert Wartha

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Eva Mattes	...	Celeste Albaret
Jürgen Arndt	...	Marcel Proust
Norbert Wartha	...	Odilon Albaret
Wolf Euba	...	Robert Proust
Joseph Manoth
Leo Bardischewski
Horst Raspe
Andi Stefanescu
Rolf Illig

Storyline

In 1914, with men gone to war, Marcel Proust hired Céleste Albaret as his attendant. More than eight years later, she was at his side when he died. During this entire time, she only entered his room when he rang for her, sleeping from 9 AM to 3 PM to wait during the night while he wrote. Marcel uses her as more than a servant: she is his muse, telling stories of her childhood to stir his remembrance of things past; she's in cahoots with him as he manipulates those he wants to draw on for his writing; she listens appalled to his descriptions of the underside of Paris. Hers is a life of love and sweet devotion as he races time to finish his work before death.

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Plot Keywords:

marcel proust | proust | based on novel | character name in title

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

23 April 1982 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Celesta

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artificial Eye, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Pelemele Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"STRING QUARTET IN D MAJOR"
Music by Cesar Franck

User Reviews

dreary

It is hard to imagine a movie more devoid of energy than this one. Partly it is due to the subject matter--Marcel Proust's later life as an invalid. However, a slow paced movie idea to begin with was straddled with slow pacing and nearly no emotion whatsoever. How this could result in a movie that would appeal to anyone is beyond me.

So why 3 points and not less? Well, the acting is fine and the makeup people did a great job of making the actor that played Proust look like death warmed over--that's for sure. But, given that nearly all the movie takes place in his apartment, it is easy to see why the movie just didn't captivate me at all. With some infusion of energy OR some insights into Proust or his housekeeper, this could have been a much better picture.