Les caprices d'un fleuve (1996)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Bernard Giraudeau

Writer:

Bernard Giraudeau (writer)

Release Date:

3 April 1996 (Belgium)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

In 1785, Jean-Franois de la Plaine is appointed by the King governor in West Africa, in a period when slavery was the rule. |

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Bernard Giraudeau	...	Jean-François de La Plaine
Richard Bohringer	...	Blanet
Thierry Frémont	...	Pierre Combaud
Roland Blanche	...	Monsieur Denis
Raoul Billerey	...	Abbé Fleuriau
Aissatou Sow	...	Amélie
France Zobda	...	Anne Brisseau
Olivier Achard	...	Monsieur de Kermadec
Vincent de Bouard	...	Chevalier de Marcera
Frédéric Lorber	...	Chirurgien major
Christian Rauth	...	Capitaine français
Smaïl Mekki	...	Maître des langues
Moussa Touré	...	Hannibal
Anna Galiena	...	Louise de Saint-Agnan
Pierre Arditi	...	Henri de Breuil

Also Known As:

Unpredictable Nature of the River (International: English title)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Certification:

South Korea:18 | France:U

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

Canal+

Soundtrack:

Magnificat (Fecit Potentiam)

A talented actor's second effort.

Bernard Giraudeau has always been one of the most ambitious actors of his generation,but his parts were sometimes below par.Fortunately,Scola and Ozon provided him with roles worthy of himself.He tackled directing with a very interesting work "l'autre" ,some kind of Wilder's "the big carnival" in reverse ."Les caprices d'un fleuve" is ,at least to my eyes, not as moving as his debut,but it nevertheless displays a demanding side which we already felt in "l'autre".

Adapting himself the account of a noble who lived circa 1789,Giraudeau makes an endearing if sometimes dragging movie.When this gentleman was exiled in 1987,it was the end of an era,and like La Fayette some years before,the hero discovers wider horizons which make the enclosed atmosphere of Versailles -see the first sequences which feature Jean-Claude Brialy,Lambert Wilson,and other luminaries in cameos- stifling.

A marvelous cinematography makes up for the slow progress of the story.Time seemed to stand still in this Africa and his inhabitants whose main wealth stemmed from slavery ,whereas in France,it moved at the speed of sound.A revolution happened in the country of Voltaire and Rousseau..And yet ...we learn that one of the" heroes "of this revolution dabbles with slaves trade!Giraudeau's hero ,who does not believe in the values of the European "civilization" anymore,has a child with a black woman,and braces himself to an uncertain future.