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

Director:

Christian Carion

Writers:

Christian Carion and
Eric Assous

Release Date:

5 September 2001 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

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

Plot:

Sandrine, a woman in her thirties gets tired of life in Paris and decides to leave her work in computers and become a farmer...

Plot Keywords:

Farm | Computer | Internet | Agricultural College | Farmhouse

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

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
Nathalie Villard	...	Fair-haired girl
Joel Paparella	...	Fair-haired boy
Stephanie Ittel	...	School teacher
Noël Martin	...	Priest
Christian Carion	...	Man with portable
Mickey Dedaj	...	Man with walkman
Yves Rochas	...	Pig breeder
Eric Rochas	...	Pig breeder
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joëlle Ruzin

Directed by
Christian Carion

Writing credits
Christian Carion		and
Eric Assous

Produced by
Christophe Rossignon	....	producer

Original Music by
Philippe Rombi

Cinematography by
Antoine Héberlé

Film Editing by
Andrea Sedlácková

Casting by
Richard Rousseau

Production Design by
Jean-Michel Simonet

Set Decoration by
Eric Molitor
Florence Rivière

Costume Design by
Françoise Dubois
Virginie Montel

Makeup Department
Sylvie Aid	....	makeup artist
Delphine Jaffart	....	makeup artist
Michel Vautier	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Julien Azoulay	....	assistant production manager
Julien Greco	....	unit manager trainee
Jean-Marc Gullino	....	unit manager
Olivier Jacob	....	unit manager
Ève Machuel	....	production manager
Cécile Rémy-Boutang	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nicolas Cambois	....	first assistant director
Olivier Desagnat	....	assistant director
Sébastien Gardet	....	assistant director

Art Department
Anthony Baron	....	head painter
Nicolas Chick	....	property master (as Nicolas Chik)
Christophe Colomer	....	first assistant decorator
Bernhard Crozas	....	construction crew
Jacques Freydier	....	construction coordinator
Denis Janon	....	painter
Thierry Litou	....	assistant decorator
Pascal Mollet	....	construction crew
Valérie Moy	....	painter
Florence Rivière	....	set dresser
Yann Roslagadec	....	construction crew
Jocelyn Sémavoine	....	construction crew
Philippe Tarricone	....	construction crew
Anne Tô	....	painter
Michael Zanella	....	construction crew

Sound Department
Nicolas Becker	....	foley artist
Etienne Curchod	....	sound editor
Assia Dnednia	....	assistant foley editor (as Assia Zipper)
Thomas Gauder	....	sound mixer
Pascal Jasmes	....	boom operator
Florent Lavallée	....	additional sound mixer
Valène Leroy	....	dialogue editor
Pierre Mertens	....	sound
Antoine Rigaud	....	assistant sound editor
Michel Schillings	....	sound recordist
Jean-Noël Yven	....	sound effects editor

Special Effects by
Luc Augereau	....	visual effects producer
Alexandre Martin Dupont	....	special effects
Christophe Huchot	....	special effects supervisor
Gilles Piéri	....	special effects
Christian Renaud	....	special effects
Philippe Teissier	....	special effects
Jean-Francois Theault	....	special effects technician
Guy Vanderplaetsen	....	special effects supervisor
Michel Vialla	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Luc Augereau	....	visual effects producer
Kevin Berger	....	digital compositor
Agnès Sébenne	....	visual effects supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Laurent Bourlier	....	additional grip
Thierry Debove	....	gaffer
Dominique Degand	....	grip
Pascal Doyen	....	electrician
Clement Gharini	....	camera operator: flying camera
Olivier Goelen	....	key grip
Marc Kahlouche	....	additional electrician
Elin Kirschfink	....	first assistant camera
Jérémie Nassif	....	still photographer
Laurent Pauty	....	second assistant camera
Marie Sorribas	....	first assistant camera
Hervé Traini	....	additional electrician
Laurence Trémolet	....	still photographer
Emmanuel Van Wambeke	....	key grip
Oliver Verdoot	....	assistant camera: aerial camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Agathe Laemmel	....	costumer
Virginie Montel	....	costumer
Isabelle Pannetier	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Maya Cypel	....	assistant editor
Isabelle Manquillet	....	assistant editor trainee
Juliette Urbain	....	additional editor
David Vincent	....	color timer

Music Department
Valérie Lindon	....	music producer
Stéphane Reichart	....	music mixer
Rodolphe Sampieri	....	assistant music mixer

Other crew
Dominique Baron	....	production administrator
Patrick Bruneton	....	travelling car
Eric Dupressoir	....	groupman
Claudia Neubern	....	script supervisor
Cécile Rémy-Boutang	....	assistant to producer
Isabelle Sauvanon	....	press attache: FR2
Pascal Villanueva	....	groupman

Thanks
François Aubé	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Artémis Productions
• Canal+
• Centre Européen Cinématographique Rhône-Alpes
• Cofimage 12
• M.S. Productions
• Mars Distribution
• Nord-Ouest Productions
• Procirep
• Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
• StudioCanal

Distributors

• Mars Distribution (2001) (France) (theatrical)
• A-Film Distribution (2002) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Fama Film AG (2001) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Prokino Filmverleih (2002) (Germany) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Artificial Eye
• Filmladen
• Films Philos
• Koch Lorber Films (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Lucky Red
• Universal Pictures (2003) (Germany) (DVD)

Special Effects

• L'Etude et la Supervision des Trucages (L'E.S.T.) (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Car Grip Films  electrical equipment
• Cinetec  grip equipment
• Ercidan  titles
• Transpalux  electrical equipment

Also Known As:

"Une hirondelle a fait le printemps" - France (original title)
"One Swallow Brought Spring" - International (English title) (informal literal title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:6 | Norway:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Singapore:PG | Malaysia:U | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Vercors, Drôme, France

Company:

Artémis Productions

Trivia:

At one point the farmers tie a bottle to a pear tree and stick a small branch with a blossom inside. They do this so, in a few months, the result will be a full sized pear inside the bottle, much too big to have been put into the bottle in the usual way. One of the farmers uses it to make a bottle of a pear flavored alcoholic drink, with the pear still inside, and the bottle, pear, and drink appear late in the film when the two farmers and Sandrine have a drink together.

Soundtrack:

Le site des balcona du ciel

Young Mathilde Had A Farm

It's formulaic, of course, but the trick with formulas is to act as if they're NOT formulaic and play it as if it were the most original story that ever came down the Pike. And that's what we get here, a charming, dazzling and ultimately Moving film that explores as if for the first time age-old concerns. Serrault has been here before in Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud so this is a good time to deal with the six degrees of separation aspect. In 'Nelly' Serrault was the older man and Manu Beart the younger woman; in Manon des Source Manu Beart tended goats and here Mathilde Seigneur does the same thing. So much for trivia. They really put more than the usual five minutes thought into this one because the credits come up over breathtaking aeriel shots of the Vercours and you can see why so many English people are inspired to buy second homes in France or even move there entirely. This is reinforced when in the first sequence we cut to Sandrine (Seigneur) caught up in a traffic jam in Paris and looking thoughtfully at a travel poster of Vercours on a bus in front of her. This is economical storytelling and in the very next scene she is telling her mother of her decision to move to the Vercours - in the Rhone Alps - and become a goat-farmer. The mother can't understand, natch, why a girl born and bred in Paris and a successful computer instructor would want to give it all up to become a sort of recluse about town. So we get the argument out of the way in the first reel. Sandrine is a gifted student, one of the best in Agricultural school and soon she is ready to invest 450,000 Francs in a remote goat farm. The farm belongs to old Adrien (Michel Serrault) and he comes with it, at least til he can move into his new flat in Grenoble some 18 months away. We are now ready for the classic battle of Old versus New, Young versus Old, initial antagonism giving way to mutual affection. Like I said, we've seen it all before. But what we HAVEN'T seen before is two Class Acts like Serrault and Seigneur and what they serve up is pure DELIGHT. We are spared nothing, this isn't a Travelogue because after an idyllic Summer comes the Winter of Discontent, so bad that Seigneur seriously considers throwing in the towel. Essentially a two-hander that stands or falls by the the quality of the two pricipals it is also fleshed out with really strong support in the shape of Adrien's neighbor and contemporary, Sandrine's colleague from Paris and sometime lover, and her mother. This is the kind of movie that Hollywood has completely forgotten how to make and which the accountants who run the place wouldn't sanction anyway. Thank God the French and other European countries can still turn them out like this. 10/10