À Nos Amours (1983) À nos amours. (original title)

Director:

Maurice Pialat

Writers:

Arlette Langmann (scenario and dialogue) &
Maurice Pialat (scenario and dialogue)

Release Date:

16 November 1983 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Suzanne is 15 and is having sex with many boys, just for fun, but did not manage to really love one of them...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Sailor | Happiness | Flirting | Sex

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Sandrine Bonnaire	...	Suzanne
Maurice Pialat	...	Le père
Christophe Odent	...	Michel
Dominique Besnehard	...	Robert
Cyril Collard	...	Jean-Pierre
Jacques Fieschi	...	Le beau-frère
Valérie Schlumberger	...	Marie-France
Evelyne Ker	...	La mère
Pierre Novion	...	Adrien
Tsilka Theodorou	...	Fanny
Cyr Boitard	...	Luc
Anne-Marie Nivelle	...	Mère Jean-Pierre
Anne-Sophie Maillé	...	Anne
Pierre-Loup Rajot	...	Bernard
Jean-Paul Camail	...	Angelo
Maïté Maillé	...	Martine
Isabelle Prade	...	Solange
Caroline Cibot	...	Charline
Alexis Quentin	...	Richard
Hervé Austen	...	Freddy
Alexandre De Dardel	...	Alex
Vanghel Theodorou	...	Claude
Caroline Legendre	...	Géraldine
Eric Viellard	...	Henri
Tom Stevens	...	L'Américain
Loïc Ermel	...	1er marin
Claude Blachowiak	...	2e marin
Nathalie Gureghian	...	Nathalie
Paul Lugagne	...	Le directeur
Gwénnolé Laurent	...	Le moniteur

Directed by
Maurice Pialat

Writing credits
Arlette Langmann		(scenario and dialogue) &
Maurice Pialat		(scenario and dialogue)

Produced by
Micheline Pialat	....	executive producer
Emmanuel Schlumberger	....	associate producer
Daniel Toscan du Plantier	....	producer

Cinematography by
Jacques Loiseleux

Film Editing by
Valérie Condroyer
Sophie Coussein
Yann Dedet

Production Design by
Jean-Paul Camail
Arlette Langmann

Costume Design by
Martha De Villalonga
Valérie Schlumberger

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Christian Argentino	....	assistant director
Cyril Collard	....	assistant director
Florence Quentin	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Julien Cloquet	....	boom operator
François de Morant	....	sound mixer
Dominique Hennequin	....	sound re-recording mixer
Thierry Jeandroz	....	sound
Jonathan Liebling	....	foley artist
Jean Umansky	....	sound
John Marshall	....	associate dubbing editor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Christian Fournié	....	camera operator
Patrice Guillou	....	assistant camera
Pierre Novion	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Jean Gargonne	....	assistant editor
Corinne Lazare	....	assistant editor
Catherine Legault	....	assistant editor
Nathalie Letrosne	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Klaus Nomi	....	singer

Other crew
Marie-Florence Roncayolo	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Les Films du Livradois
• Gaumont
• France 3 (FR 3)

Distributors

• Gaumont (1983) (France) (theatrical)
• Eureka Entertainment (2010) (UK) (DVD)
• Gaumont DVD (2003) (France) (DVD)
• Artificial Eye (1984) (UK) (theatrical)
• Triumph Films (1984) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Columbia TriStar (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Prodimag (2007) (Spain) (DVD)
• Homescreen (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"À nos amours." - France (original title)
"To Our Loves" - International (English title) (festival title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Iceland:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade)

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Les Films du Livradois

Goofs:

Continuity: In the sequence with the American, Suzanne's outfit changes from a one-shoulder black dress with white stripes trimming just the top of the bodice, to a one-shoulder black&white striped top with a black skirt, and back again.

Quotes:

La mère:[seeing that her daughter was nude] You could put on a nightgown. It's disgusting to sleep like that.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Cold Song

A little misplaced

A perfect example which illustrates why being truth to life sometimes doesn't often equal great movies. Maurice Pialat wasn't completely truthful in its depiction of youth's shallowness but he isn't completely off mark, just a few objectionable things that look bizarre, too exploitative or unbelievable. But that's life sometimes. "À Nos Amours" ("To Our Loves") focus is a teenage girl (Sandrine Bonnaire) and the way she conducts her sexual relationships, first with a boyfriend, the good hearted Luc (Cyr Boitard), and later evolves to sometimes mindless, sometimes affectionate casual encounters with other guys. Almost fine if it wasn't for her family bothering with this, and a somewhat unpredictable disintegration when her father (Pialat) decides to leave the family. What spirals after that is a emotional roller-coaster with the infatuated girl being a victim of constant reprehension and beatings from her older brother, now head of the family, and the mother who seems to be rotting away into madness, not knowing how to cope with everything happening around her. And there's plenty of time for her dedicate some time with her lovers, miserable for not getting the love she deserves.

One goes through this with plenty of expectations and interest but one walks out with plenty of reservations and little gain. C'mon, this was made in 1980's and you're telling me that even back then, in such a bourgeoisie family, allegedly cultured, they treat the typical adolescent behavior in that horrid way? With punches, yells and stuff? I would expect this in a poorer background. Everything's so over-the-top, so forced, very off-putting. The movie seems to suggest that there's something going on between father and daughter and also between brother and sister, just suggest some incestuous relations but never goes into that deep.

What Pialat captured with some excellency was youth's boredom, trying everything to escape from the usual routine of schools, classmates, and dealing with parents; youth's incapacity to love or find love, or using such as something to pass the time, not knowing what love truly means, going from one relationship to another, desperate to find something new that may cure from their boredom and apathy towards life. This is clearly evidenced in the scene where the girl has an one night stand with an English sailor. She had her fun, experienced something great but she doesn't show much after the fact, a little worried because she cheated on her boyfriend. It isn't a first rate portrayal, obviously, but it's far more realistic than the other topics already mentioned (the family matters). The movie strangely absurd towards the ending, giving unexplainable solutions and the strange return of the father.

I enjoyed this movie, enjoyed its good pace, it makes you interested with the very few it has to share. A little saddening that it wasn't all that much of a good film as a Cesar Award winner should be. Bonnaire, in one of her earliest roles, has plenty of qualities despite the relative lack of expression her character has, constantly down, sad, beaten. Far from being the great French cinema but beautiful to look at. 6/10