L'examen de minuit (1998)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Danièle Dubroux

Writers:

Danièle Dubroux (writer)
Pascal Richou (writer)

Release Date:

28 October 1998 (France)

Plot:

When she lands up in the middle of nowhere, Séréna, a rather thoughtless young woman, is supposed to marry Hubert...

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Julie Depardieu	...	Séréna Dartois
François Cluzet	...	Antoine
Serge Riaboukine	...	Roland Dubois
Danièle Dubroux	...	Marianne Thomas
Jean-Christophe Bouvet	...	Le Vendeur du Manoir
Bruno Sermonne	...	Hubert
Naguime Bendidi	...	Naguim
Florence Giorgetti	...	La Femme de la librairie
Pascal Richou	...	Jérôme
Emile Durand	...	René
Christian Debruille	...	Le Clown
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Claude Delclaux
Michèle Demure	...	La pharmacienne
Pierre Desproges	...	Himself on TV (archive footage)
Jean-Luc Grangier	...	Le Banquier
Michel Houriez
Fatma Moreira
Gilles Nodet
Jean-Louis Pesson	...	Le Patron du bar du village
Didier Rost

Also Known As:

Midnight Exam

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

France:U | Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Dieulefit, Drôme, France

Company:

Canal+

A naive French love affair

A young naive lady, tired to be alone, is looking for a husband in the classifieds. Her first contact returns to nothing but she decides to live in the region and takes a job as a waitress in the local pub. Soon a young shy farmer notices her and shy as he is, does not know how to propose to her for marriage. In a very strange way they finally end up married, but at the wedding night she lies about being infected with aids to avoid physical contact. That night she even leaves him for a walk in the park without him knowing. There she met a writer who she takes to dance and finally even to bed. She lives for a while in the same house of the writer's wife, without her knowing. The farmer is desperate. Some day the writer's wife finds out about the adultery and decides to look for the husband farmer.

The storytelling is very slow in the beginning, but at the end of the movie you'll probably would like to know how the story will end and you keep on watching, even if the end does not make sense at all. The narrative voice between dialogues is very annoying. I wonder why the director has used this rather strange technique.