Le sourire (1994)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Claude Miller

Writer:

Claude Miller (writer)

Release Date:

17 August 1994 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

After he learns that a heart attack may be imminent, Pierre Francois, an old psychiatrist, becomes physically attracted to Odile...

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Sexuality | Stripper

Cast

Jean-Pierre Marielle	...	Pierre-François Le Clainche
Richard Bohringer	...	Jean-Jean
Emmanuelle Seigner	...	Odile
Chantal Banlier	...	Loulou
Bernard Verley	...	Ma tante
Mathilde Seigner	...	Tututt
Nathalie Cardone	...	Brigitte
Nadia Barentin	...	Gaby
Maïté Nahyr	...	Mado
Christine Pascal	...	Chantal
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Didier Bénureau	...	Veste rouge
Jean-Paul Bonnaire	...	Yougo
Noëlla Dussart	...	Chipper
Nathalie Gazdik
Pascale Jonville	...	Fille Miami-Follies
Catherine Mongodin	...	Wagon
Myriam Nedellec	...	Fille Miami-Follies (as Myriam Anne)
Caroline Picard
Jeanne Savary	...	Cisca
Sabine Tingry	...	Fille Miami-Follies
Cynthia Van Damme	...	Fille Miami-Follies (as Cynthia Vandamme)

Directed by
Claude Miller

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Claude Miller		writer

Produced by
Jean-Louis Livi	....	producer
Annie Miller	....	producer
Chris Sheridan	....	producer

Original Music by
Pierre Boscheron
Vincent Glenn
Antoine Ouvrier

Cinematography by
Guillaume Schiffman

Film Editing by
Anne Lafarge

Production Design by
Jean-Pierre Kohut-Svelko

Costume Design by
Jacqueline Bouchard

Production Management
Olivier Michel	....	second assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nathan Miller	....	second assistant director (as Nathan Miler)

Sound Department
Paul Lainé	....	sound
Gérard Lamps	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jérôme Lévy	....	foley artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Mathias Othnin-Girard	....	second assistant camera
Eric Vallée	....	first assistant camera
Bernard Wuthrich	....	Steadicam operator

Other crew
Sylvie Koechlin	....	script supervisor
Véronique Malbequi	....	choreographer
Yann Nerot	....	administrator

Production Companies

• Film Par Film
• Les Films de la Boissière
• TF1 Films Production

Distributors

• Cine Company S.A. (Spain)

Also Known As:

Le sillon de tes fesses est le sourire de ma vie (France) (working title)
The Smile

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

France:U | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13

Company:

Film Par Film

Trivia:

Originally written as a short theater piece.

Movie Connections:

References "Hélène et les garçons" (1992)

Pure magic

Claude Miller's epic erotic fantasy is an unclassifiably eccentric, beautiful cinematic dessert.

Long-in-the-tooth Jean-Pierre Marielle, a bored psychiatrist, falls hopelessly in love with with child-woman Emmanuelle Siegner( Odile) and leaves his comfortable environs (and wife) to go on the road -- and train -- with her.

Into this potentially explosive stew are woven a subplot about a carnival barker (Richard Bohringer), unfinished business with an ex-wife and ruminations on death and irresponsibility.

Miller's images are highly charged and gleefully erotic, and he uses a gorgeous signature tune, "Jump For Joy", to set and reset the tone. In one very hot sequence, the track is played as Miller cuts between Marielle riding an out-on-control bicycle and Seigner playing a game of tennis with herself. How the two threads meet is pure magic. And one will never forget the sweeping traveling shots that are so well shot and scored.

Nothing about the film is locked down, and that's what makes it so enjoyable. Like a new love affair, it is propelled by its own, exhuberant euphoria. It experiments, detours through some wonderful fantasy sequences and still manages to be highly involving and deeply moving.

The performances are all exemplary.