The Girl from Paris (2001)
"Une hirondelle a fait le printemps" (original title)

Sandrine, a woman in her thirties gets tired of life in Paris and decides to leave her work in computers and become a farmer. She takes the required practice for two years, and after that ... See full summary »

Director:

Christian Carion

Writers:

Christian Carion, Eric Assous

Stars:

Michel Serrault, Mathilde Seigner, Jean-Paul Roussillon

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michel Serrault	...	Adrien
Mathilde Seigner	...	Sandrine Dumez
Jean-Paul Roussillon	...	Jean
Frédéric Pierrot	...	Gérard
Marc Berman	...	Stéphane
Françoise Bette	...	La mère de Sandrine
Christophe Rossignon	...	L'exploitant
Roland Chalosse	...	Le barman
Achiles Francisco Varas dell'Aquila	...	Barfly
Henri Pasquale	...	Card player
Paul Courat	...	Card player
Bernard Gerland	...	Card player
Ramon Bertrand	...	Card player
Grazziela Horens	...	Dark-haired girl
Vincent Borei	...	Dark-haired boy

Storyline

Sandrine, a woman in her thirties gets tired of life in Paris and decides to leave her work in computers and become a farmer. She takes the required practice for two years, and after that she buys an isolated farm from Adrien, an old farmer who decides it's time to retire. However, Adrien wants to stay a few more months before moving away from the farm, and the rough winter finds them together...

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Plot Keywords:

farm | computer | internet | agricultural college | farmhouse | 

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Taglines:

The sleeper hit that has already charmed more than 2 million French moviegoers.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [us] Official site (German)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

5 September 2001 (France)

Also Known As:

The Girl from Paris

Filming Locations:

Vercors, Drôme, France

Box Office

Budget:

FRF 25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$6,324 (USA) (28 March 2003)

Gross:

$183,266 (USA) (6 February 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artémis Productions, Canal+, Centre Européen Cinématographique Rhône-Alpes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The French title, translated as "A Swallow Made a Spring", is a variation of an old saying that "one swallow does not make a spring".

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Soundtracks

"Le site des balcona du ciel"
Written by Jean-Noël Yven

User Reviews

"One Swallow Brought Spring" is the translated title.

This is a very nice movie that most English-speaking movie goers will never see. Here in the USA it has the title "Girl From Paris", but the French title translates to "one swallow brought spring." Mathilde Seigner, unknown to me before this movie, plays Sandrine Dumez, a single young lady, approaching 30, and living in Paris. One day while running late because of bad traffic, she decides to follow her dream, to get away from the city and become a farmer. This is her story, and also how her life touched that of an old man who thought he had nothing to live for. She was his 'swallow'. Although it is all in French, the subtitles are easy to read and is not a distraction at all. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good story.

SPOILERS FOLLOW. Sandrine enrolls in a two year school to study farming. She is one of the better students and a hard worker. She finds a farm to buy in a beautiful hilly area somewhere between Paris and Grenoble, probably closer to Grenoble. The old owner had lost his wife some years back, and was just tired of farming, but he didn't look kindly upon "school" farmers, and wasn't very helpful at first. In fact it seemed like he wanted her to fail, even though he had contracted to remain living there for 18 months. But he slowly warmed up to her when he saw how kind she was, and how hard she worked. She converted one building into a hotel and advertised it over the internet as "Balconies in the Sky." She sold her goat cheese over the internet. She worked hard every day. Her business was good.

In a key scene during the cold winter, we see him causing a problem with her hotel's electricity, and we assume he is up to no good. But, what he wanted was for her to be near him, so without heat, he invited her to stay with him in the old guest bedroom. A few days later, he fixed the problem. They shared meals and conversation, and they even danced. Not long before, a sour old man, he now had a little joy in his life.

After a particularly hard winter, Sandrine had to take a break, went back to Paris, even taught two days of an internet class. She considered whether she should go back, and decided to. The movie ends with her leading the goats back to the barn in the spring.