Tous les matins du monde (1991)

It's late 17th century. The viola da gamba player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe comes home to find that his wife died while he was away. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden into... See full summary »

Director:

Alain Corneau

Writers:

Pascal Quignard (based on the novel by), Alain Corneau (adaptation)

Stars:

Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Anne Brochet

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 9 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Pierre Marielle	...	Monsieur de Sainte Colombe
Gérard Depardieu	...	Marin Marais
Anne Brochet	...	Madeleine
Guillaume Depardieu	...	Young Marin Marais
Carole Richert	...	Toinette
Michel Bouquet	...	Baugin
Jean-Claude Dreyfus	...	Abbe Mathieu
Yves Gasc	...	Caignet
Yves Lambrecht	...	Charbonnières
Jean-Marie Poirier	...	Monsieur de Bures
Myriam Boyer	...	Guignotte
Violaine Lacroix	...	Young Madeleine
Nadège Teron	...	Young Toinette
Caroline Silhol	...	Mme. de Sainte Colombe (as Caroline Sihol)
Philippe Duclos	...	Brunet (voice)

Storyline

It's late 17th century. The viola da gamba player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe comes home to find that his wife died while he was away. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden into which he moves to dedicate his life to music and his two young daughters Madeleine and Toinette, avoiding the outside world. Rumor about him and his music is widespread, and even reaches to the court of Louis XIV, who wants him at his court in Lully's orchestra, but Monsieur de Sainte Colombe refuses. One day a young man, Marin Marais, comes to see him with a request, he wants to be taught how to play the viola.

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Plot Keywords:

viola | viola da gamba | sainte colombe | court | orchestra | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | Music | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

18 December 1991 (France)

Also Known As:

All the Mornings of the World

Filming Locations:

Abbey of Moutier-d'Ahun, Moutier-d'Ahun, Creuse, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$39,277, 15 November 1992

Gross USA:

$3,089,497

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,089,497

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Par Film, DD Productions, Divali Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The soundtrack album of Baroque music outsold Michael Jackson, upon its release in France, and outsold Madonna upon its release in the United States.

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Goofs

Throughout the film the music-making is very poorly mimed.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[in French, using English subtitles]
Musician: Open your mouth so we can hear you. I can't follow you. You're not listening. You're going too fast. Let's start over with the first notes of the song. Stop! The Master has signalled. The Master would speak. Speak, Master.
Marin Marais: Each note should end dying.

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Connections

Referenced in England, My England (1995)

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Soundtracks

Le retour
Music by Sainte-Colombe

User Reviews

A Complat Artistic Triumph

'Tous les matins du monde' is more an experience than a movie. The brainchild of director Alain Corneau, writer Pascal Quignard, and musician Jordi Savall this film integrates the visual with the historicodramatic and the music that created the idea and bathes it in the most sensuously beautiful cinematography of a period (the 17th century) by Yves Angelo who is given the sets and design and costumes by Bernard Vézat and Corinne Jorry that create image after image of masterful still life. The total integration of the work of these masters is the plinth on which the actors offer the memory of two famous composers in French classical music history.

Saint-Colombe (Jean-Pierre Marielle) is a viol player and composer whose wife (Caroline Sihol) dies young leaving him to raise his two daughters young Madeleine (Violaine Lacroix) and young Toinette (Nadège Teron)whom he teaches his art of viol de gamba performance while sequestering himself and his girls in the countryside. Into their garden comes the young handsome son of a shoemaker, Marin Marais (Guillaume Depardieu, the son of Gerard Depardieu) who commits to learning the viol and eventually becomes a court musician only to fall in love with Saint-Colombe's elder daughter Madeleine (Anne Brochet) whom he eventually leaves for the glories of the court. As an adult (Gérard Depardieu pere) he realizes his error and returns to the Saint-Colombe sanctuary where he learns the true meaning of music as being something beyond words and thus something beyond human.

In the course of this quiet little film and in the dramatic lighting of the production design we hear the music of Couperin, Lully, as well as compositions by Marais and Saint-Colombe. Jordi Savall supplies the incidental music that binds these works and offers the viol playing together with a talented group of musicians. The story is small, the dialogue sparse (primarily Depardieu pere narrating his experience as Marais) and for the novice the film could be slow. But the incandescent beauty both visually and aurally make this film a work of art that has not been equaled since its appearance on the scene in 1991. It is a treasure. Highly recommended. Grady Harp