Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Yves Montand | ... | Diego Mora | |
Ingrid Thulin | ... | Marianne | |
Geneviève Bujold | ... | Nadine Sallanches | |
Jean Dasté | ... | Le chef du réseau clandestin / Chief | |
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Dominique Rozan | ... | Jude |
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Jean-François Rémi | ... | Juan |
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Marie Mergey | ... | Madame Lopez |
Michel Piccoli | ... | L'inspecteur des douanes / First Customs Inspector | |
Anouk Ferjac | ... | Marie Jude | |
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Roland Monod | ... | Antoine |
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Pierre Decazes | ... | L'employé SNCF / Station Employee |
Paul Crauchet | ... | Roberto | |
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Claire Duhamel | ... | La femme du wagon-restaurant / Traveller |
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Antoine Bourseiller | ... | L'homme du wagon-restaurant / Traveller |
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Laurence Badie | ... | Bernadette Pluvier |
Diego is one of the chiefs of the spanish Communist Party. He is travelling back to Paris (where he lives) from a mission in Madrid. He is arrested at the border for an identity check but manages to go free thanks to Nadine, the daughter of the man whose passport is used by him. When he arrives in Paris, he starts searching one of his comrades, Juan, to prevent him from going to Madrid where he could be arrested by Franco's police... Written by Yepok
Alain Resnais was almost a god of cinema in the 60's. That people actually discussed the meaning of Last Year at Marienbad at parties seems unbelievable today (yet check the posts for Mulholland Drive), but it was a cultural object just as real as a Picasso painting. If I say that La Guerre est finie has aged badly, that's not to say that it didn't hold the attention of liberals 40 years ago.
The politics of the main (male) characters are fossilized. The old Bolshevik ideals have become more and more detached from reality. Diego knows that there will be no general strike in Spain on May 1st, no matter how hard they will it to happen. Pamphlets smuggled by car into the country in false compartments are not being translated into actions. Diego's lack of authenticity is his real problem: he's spent most of his life in France, speaks better French than Spanish, and is watching people 20 years younger than himself taking more radical steps to end Franco's rule.
Marianne has a greater grasp of reality than her lover. After nine years with Diego, she just wants to settle down and have kids, and put an end to the endless coded conversations with her friends (who are ignorant of Diego's revolutionary activities). She watches as Diego gets sloppy--driving with lights out while there's a suitcase full of plastic explosives in the car, as a cop stops them for questioning.
Semprun's script makes Montand into a sexual magnet; has any 20-year-old girl taken off her clothes faster for a tired 45-year-old man? The star system dictates that the male lead be a stud, but there are limits.