À Nos Amours (1983)

An erratic young woman's family desperately tries to prevent her increasingly erotic ways.

Director:

Maurice Pialat

Writers:

Arlette Langmann (scenario and dialogue), Maurice Pialat (scenario and dialogue)

Stars:

Sandrine Bonnaire, Maurice Pialat, Christophe Odent

4 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sandrine Bonnaire	...	Suzanne
Maurice Pialat	...	Le père
Christophe Odent	...	Michel
Dominique Besnehard	...	Robert
Cyril Collard	...	Jean-Pierre
Jacques Fieschi	...	Le beau-frère
Valérie Schlumberger	...	Marie-France
Evelyne Ker	...	La mère
Pierre Novion	...	Adrien
Tsilka Theodorou	...	Fanny
Cyr Boitard	...	Luc
Anne-Marie Nivelle	...	Mère Jean-Pierre
Anne-Sophie Maillé	...	Anne
Pierre-Loup Rajot	...	Bernard
Jean-Paul Camail	...	Angelo

Storyline

Suzanne is sixteen and is having sex with many boys, just for fun, but did not manage to really love one of them. Her family does not understand her. The father does not like her behaviour. When he leaves home, the mother becomes a little bit neurotic. And Suzanne's brother Robert, begins to beat her as a punishment.

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Plot Keywords:

promiscuous woman | promiscuity | multiple lovers | sexual promiscuity | female nudity | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the director, the final dinner scene was completely improvised.

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Goofs

In the sequence with the American, Suzanne's outfit changes from a one-shoulder black dress with white stripes trimming just the top of the bodice, to a one-shoulder black&white striped top with a black skirt, and back again.

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Quotes

Suzanne: Sometimes I feel like killing myself, you know? Sometimes I'm sick of living.

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Connections

References Band of Outsiders (1964)

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Soundtracks

The Cold Song
Henry Purcell (as Percell)
interprété par Klaus Nomi
disques RCA

User Reviews

A little misplaced

A perfect example which illustrates why being truth to life sometimes doesn't often equal great movies. Maurice Pialat wasn't completely truthful in its depiction of youth's shallowness but he isn't completely off mark, just a few objectionable things that look bizarre, too exploitative or unbelievable. But that's life sometimes. "À Nos Amours" ("To Our Loves") focus is a teenage girl (Sandrine Bonnaire) and the way she conducts her sexual relationships, first with a boyfriend, the good hearted Luc (Cyr Boitard), and later evolves to sometimes mindless, sometimes affectionate casual encounters with other guys. Almost fine if it wasn't for her family bothering with this, and a somewhat unpredictable disintegration when her father (Pialat) decides to leave the family. What spirals after that is an emotional roller-coaster with the infatuated girl being a victim of constant reprehension and beatings from her older brother, now head of the family, and the mother who seems to be rotting away into madness, not knowing how to cope with everything happening around her. And there's plenty of time for her dedicate some time with her lovers, miserable for not getting the love she deserves.

One goes through this with plenty of expectations and interest but one walks out with plenty of reservations and little gain. C'mon, this was made in 1980's and you're telling me that even back then, in such a bourgeoisie family, allegedly cultured, they treat the typical adolescent behavior in that horrid way? With punches, yells and stuff? I would expect this in a poorer background. Everything's so over-the-top, so forced, very off-putting. The movie seems to suggest that there's something going on between father and daughter and also between brother and sister, just suggest some incestuous relations but never goes into that deep.

What Pialat captured with some excellency was youth's boredom, trying everything to escape from the usual routine of schools, classmates, and dealing with parents; youth's incapacity to love or find love, or using such as something to pass the time, not knowing what love truly means, going from one relationship to another, desperate to find something new that may cure them from their boredom and apathy towards life. This is clearly evidenced in the scene where the girl has an one night stand with an English sailor. She had her fun, experienced something great but she doesn't show much after the fact, a little worried because she cheated on her boyfriend. It isn't a first rate portrayal, obviously, but it's far more realistic than the other topics already mentioned (the family matters). The movie strangely went absurd towards the ending, giving unexplainable solutions and the strange return of the father.

I enjoyed this movie, enjoyed its good pace, it makes you interested with the very few it has to share. A little saddening that it wasn't all that much of a good film as a Cesar Award winner should be. Bonnaire, in one of her earliest roles, has plenty of qualities despite the relative lack of expression her character has, constantly down, sad, beaten. Far from being the great French cinema but beautiful to look at. 6/10

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France]

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

16 November 1983 (France)

Also Known As:

To Our Loves

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films du Livradois, Gaumont, France 3 (FR 3)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1