Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978)

A worried husband finds a lover for his depressed wife, but she falls in love with a bullied thirteen-year-old math prodigy and wants to have the boy's baby.

Director:

Bertrand Blier

Writer:

Bertrand Blier

Stars:

Gérard Depardieu, Carole Laure, Patrick Dewaere

Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gérard Depardieu	...	Raoul
Patrick Dewaere	...	Stéphane
Carole Laure	...	Solange
Michel Serrault	...	Le voisin / Neighbor
Eléonore Hirt	...	Madame Beloeil
Jean Rougerie	...	Mr. Beloeil
Sylvie Joly	...	La passante / Passerbeil
Riton Liebman	...	Christian Beloeil (as Riton)
Liliane Rovère	...	Bartender
Michel Beaune	...	Le médecin dans la rue
Roger Riffard	...	Le médecin du port
André Thorent	...	Le professeur
André Lacombe	...	Le délégué syndical
David Gabison	...	Le quidam (as Alain David Gabison)
Gilberte Géniat	...	L'ouvreuse du théâtre

Storyline

Solange is depressed: she's stopped smiling, she eats little, she says less. She has fainting fits. Her husband Raoul seeks to save her by enlisting Stephane, a stranger, to be her lover. Although he listens to Mozart and has every Pocket Book arranged in alphabetical order, Stephane fails to cheer Solange. She knits. She does housework. Everyone, including their neighbor a vegetable vendor, agrees that she needs a child, yet she fails to get pregnant by either lover. The three take a job running a kids' summer camp where they meet Christian, the precocious 13-year-old son of the local factory manager. It is Christian who restores Solange to laughter.

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Plot Keywords:

premature | 13 year old | mozart | reference to ludwig van beethoven | sex education | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

French

Release Date:

17 December 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

Filming Locations:

Ardennes, Wallonia, Belgium

Company Credits

Production Co:

Belga Films,C.A.P.A.C.,Les Films Ariane

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007)

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Soundtracks

Raoul Et Stephane Abandonnes
Written and Performed by Georges Delerue Et Son Orchestre

User Reviews

Before "Rushmore"

This movie is quite similar to the American film "Rushmore," in that both films portray sensitive, intelligent young teen boys becoming infatuated with adult women twice their age. Major difference: Blier the guts that the director of "Rushmore" did not have.

"Rushmore," like most films about teen boys having crushes on older women, took the easy way out. The boy falls madly in love with his teacher, but the romance is never consummated. Instead, he encourages her, at the end of the film, to continue her affair with a much older married man. So, the message is the older men have the right to take advantage of younger women, yet not vice versa?

In Blier's film, the relationship of boy and his adult crush is consummated. Therefore, the film breaks the mold. "Rushmore" merely follows a traditional (and just plain worn out) plot pattern.