| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Marion Cotillard | ... | Gabrielle | |
| Louis Garrel | ... | André Sauvage | |
| Alex Brendemühl | ... | José | |
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Brigitte Roüan | ... | Adèle |
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Victoire Du Bois | ... | Jeannine |
| Aloïse Sauvage | ... | Agostine | |
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Daniel Para | ... | Martin |
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Jihwan Kim | ... | Blaise |
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Victor Quilichini | ... | Marc 14 ans |
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Ange Black-Bereyziat | ... | Marc 7 ans |
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Sören Rochefort | ... | Georget |
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Camilo Acosta Mendoza | ... | Camilo |
| Francisco Alfonsin | ... | Paco | |
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Julio Bollullo Carasco | ... | Julio |
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Folco Jullien | ... | Garçon fête |
Gabrielle comes from a small village in the South of France, at a time when her dream of true love is considered scandalous, and even a sign of insanity. Her parents marry her to José, an honest and loving Spanish farm worker who they think will make a respectable woman of her. Despite José's devotion to her, she vows that she will never love José and lives like a prisoner bound by the constraints of conventional post-World War II society until the day she is sent away to a cure in the Alps to heal her kidney stones. There she meets André Sauvage, a dashing injured veteran of the Indochinese War, who rekindles the passion buried inside her. She promises they will run away together, and he seems to share her desire. Will anyone dare rob her of her right to follow her dreams? Written by Polly_Kat
I absolutely loved this film, French films are masters at this type of art. The longing for love the unknown forbidden fruit. Not wanting it yet finding it out of the blue, again metaphorical substances, her pain is real, the stone in her body is real, not attention seeking as her mother would say. Just as painful as her yearning for love, to be loved, to give love, naive, curious... The parents strict in many ways we do not know as to what she went through as a young child, but it forms and shapes her womanhood. Her mind in turmoil, visions, fantasies that are alive as daylight. Twists and turns in the film that left me totally glued as to what is going on with this creature, this beauty, these consequences that are occurring all the time, her loveless marriage, her son... It's the passion of love, lasting a mere moment in a lifetime, and ending so abruptly. To reconcile with herself, in the end finding who she is, finding her inner peace...she is in reality a part of most of mankind.