This Sweet Sickness (1977)

A man is desperately attaining beloved woman, despite her husband and child.

Director:

Claude Miller

Writers:

Claude Miller (adaptation), Luc Béraud (adaptation)

Stars:

Gérard Depardieu, Miou-Miou, Claude Piéplu

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gérard Depardieu	...	David Martinaud
Miou-Miou	...	Juliette
Claude Piéplu	...	Chouin
Jacques Denis	...	Gérard Dutilleux
Dominique Laffin	...	Lise
Christian Clavier	...	François
Xavier Saint-Macary	...	Michel Barbet
Véronique Silver	...	Madame Barbet
Annick Le Moal	...	Camille
Josiane Balasko	...	Nadine
Robert Dullier
Michel Pilorgé	...	Maurice
Daniel Perche
Jacqueline Jeanne	...	Jeanne
Michel Such	...	Raymond

Storyline

David is an accountant. He leaves town every Friday, pretending he is going to take care of his parents at their old people's home. But actually his parents are dead, and he spends the week-ends converting a chalet. He intends to live there with Lise, a woman he knows and loves since childhood. But Lise has just married another and has a baby. David's mad love does not see those facts as an obstacle...

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Plot Keywords:

love | accountant | stalker | neighbor | male female relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The film that David Martinaud ( Gérard Depardieu ) & Juliette ( Miou-Miou ) are watching at the beginning is Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rebecca'.

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Connections

Features Rebecca (1940)

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Soundtracks

Sonate in D-Dur, K 545
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

User Reviews

Good middlebrow movie-making, when not akin to a Hollywood psycho flick

The movie builds to an inevitably tragic climax, then - more than a little jarringly - director Miller literally rewinds the film back to the penultimate step in the drama, when Depardieu held his lost love with a vision of perfect romantic unity: the moment of fulfillment in which he'll presumably spend the rest of his deranged life. The movie for most of its length is intriguing as an escalating story of obsession, but never really gets a handle on Depardieu's problem, which makes the later developments akin to those you'd find in a Hollywood-type psycho flick, and not that much more restrained. His particular journey is less artistically interesting than the secondary structure of Miou-Miou's obsession with him and the other man's thing for her, which suggests a perpetual domino effect of misplaced ideals and dreams; however, this is never really played out and everything ultimately depends on the central story. When not letting fly, the movie has the restrained observation and visual taste of good middlebrow French movie-making and the overall air of wistful yearning and pain is pretty effective; the setting in the snow is especially striking.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

28 September 1977 (France)

Also Known As:

This Sweet Sickness

Filming Locations:

Boissy, Isère, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmoblic, France Régions 3 (FR3), Prospectacle

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1