Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Lucia Bosé | ... | Laura | |
Francine Racette | ... | Julienne | |
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Caroline Cartier | ... | Caroline |
Jeanne Moreau | ... | Sarah Dedieu | |
Keith Carradine | ... | David | |
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François Simon | ... | Grégoire |
Bruno Ganz | ... | Heinrich Grün | |
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René Féret | ... | Julien |
Niels Arestrup | ... | Nano | |
Francis Huster | ... | Thomas | |
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Patrice Alexsandre | ... | Pétard |
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Jacques Spiesser | ... | Saint-Loup |
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Chloé Caillat | ... | Marie (as Cloe Caillat) |
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Marie Henriau | ... | Flora |
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Hermine Karagheuz | ... | Camille |
Sarah, an actress nearing 40, has invited the woman who has been her best friend for 16 years and two younger women to her vacation retreat in Provence. There are the simple pleasures of lounging in adjacent hammocks, the sun, the food, conversations about men. This is prologue for what happened a year ago in Paris with a man Sarah has long taken for granted as a platonic friend. She had just finished a film, also finishing her liaison with the director, and was about to get an award and start work on a new film and begin a romance with a German writer. Written by Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>
"Lumiere" is the first film directed by French actress Jeanne Moreau. She stars in it too and it is the movie's only redeeming virtue, because when she is on screen, you can't take your eyes off her, and then that devastating smile of hers transcends criticism.
Most of the picture deals with the lives of four film actresses, one of them Moreau, and the men in their lives, and the various crises they confront. Some of it is confusing, some of it very humorous, especially the scenes with Keith Carradine as a gauche but horny American in Paris. Lucia Bose', an Italian actress of some reputation, is excellent as an actress who has left the movies for domestic life. The movie is shot in very nice color.
"Lumiere" means "light" in French and is also the name of an early French silent film director who roamed the streets looking for documentary beauty. The word is a symbol of the mystery of cinema and the delight of its artifices.