La Pointe Courte (1955)

Follow the story of a couple who goes to a small French fishing village to try to solve the problems of their deteriorating marriage.

Director:

Agnès Varda

Writer:

Agnès Varda

Stars:

Philippe Noiret, Silvia Monfort, Marcel Jouet

Cast

Cast overview:
Philippe Noiret	...	Lui
Silvia Monfort	...	Elle
Marcel Jouet	...	Raphäel Scotto
Albert Lubrano	...	Albert Soldino
Anna Banegas	...	Anna Soldino
André Lubrano	...	Dédé Soldino
Rossette Lubrano	...	La femme d'Albert

Storyline

There are two parts to this film: sequences of life in the fishing village of La Pointe Courte (a government inspector's visit, the death of a child) alternate with others following a couple - He is from La Pointe Courte, she is Parisian - coming to terms with their changing relationship.

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Plot Keywords:

fishing village | marriage | french new wave | f rated | marriage drama | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The director said she was inspired to create a film based on two different stories alternating with each other, from reading an American novel with a similar structure, Wild Palms by William Faulkner.

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Connections

Referenced in The Beaches of Agnès (2008)

User Reviews

A dissenting voice....

I noticed that all the reviews currently on IMDb for "La Pointe-Courte" are very positive--and some are simply glowing. Well, let me be a voice of dissent, as I disliked the film intensely. While I could see their point that some of the camera-work was nice, I found the film to be pretentious and boring.

The film looks much like a French version of an Italian Neo-Realist film. The actors appear to be non-actors--local people from some French fishing community and the story, like a Neo-Realist film, is about ordinary people and ordinary things. Because of that, I found the first 33 minutes rather dull. Seeing folks in this fishing village only seemed interesting for a short time--then I failed to see any sort of point to the film. And, just when I thought it couldn't get much worse, it did! A newly wed couple you saw early in the film is now arguing--but arguing with absolutely no energy or intensity at all. And, oddly, apparently four years has passed since their last scene--though there is no sense of time passing at all in the film. And, instead of showing any emotion during this strange sequence, they TALK, TALK, TALK--while the camera plays annoying games with their profiles. Then, you see a closeup of a dead cat (who the @^## wants to see that?!) and then some eels. It's incredibly artsy-fartsy--that's for sure.

This simply is a film that normal folks would hate intensely. While I have a high tolerance for art films and have probably reviewed more than anyone on IMDb, this film was just too intensely boring and pretentious and made me wonder WHO the audience was for it. If you think I am wrong, try showing the film to a few friends and family members--I would venture that most would feel pretty much like me about the film.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

4 January 1956 (France)

Also Known As:

La Pointe Courte

Filming Locations:

Sète, Hérault, France

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,596

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ciné Tamaris

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1