French Provincial
Synopsis
At the beginning of the 20th century, Pédret, a Spanish immigrant arrives in the southwest French country side. He becomes a blacksmith and marries Augustine, the daughter of the village baker. By 1936 Pédret’s forge has become a foundry where his three sons are the managers. Years later when Augustine, now a bourgeois matriarch, realizes that her son Hector is having an affair with Berthe, a lowly seamstress, she tries to ruin Berthe’s business and drive her out of town even if it means bribing her. But old Pédret, who knows that his sons have their spirits broken, can see that Berthe has the blunt good sense they lack, and he arranges for Bethe and Hector to be married.
While the bourgeois wives of the two other sons mope and become peevish, Berthe makes herself useful. In the war, she is a heroine of the Resistance; when the business is imperiled by a strike, she settles it by acceding to the workers demands. She takes over the dominant role in management, and becomes the new matriarch as well. In contrast with the practical Berthe, Regina, her sister in law is flighty. Dark and beautiful, Regina is married to Prosper, Pédret’s youngest son and the only one with a college education. But Regina and the handsome, refined Prosper are a mismatch.
A rapacious dreamer, Regina, fed up with the dull austerity of provincial society, runs off with an American soldier. Eventually, Berthe comes to control the family's fortunes, but economic challenges in the 1950s force her to turn to an unlikely source for financial help: her obnoxious sister-in-law Regina who has come back, more stunning than ever, with an American industrialist lover. Regina may now be willing to aid Berthe in exchange for her freedom.
Source : Wikipedia
Credits
Director (1)
Actors (19)
Production and distribution (3)
- Executive Producers : Buffalo Films, Belstar Productions, Renn Productions, Stephan-Films, Simar Films
- Film exports/foreign sales : Impex Films
- French distribution : AMLF
Full credits (11)
- Adaptation : Marilyn Goldin, André Téchiné
- Screenwriters : André Téchiné, Marilyn Goldin
- Dialogue Writers : Marilyn Goldin, André Téchiné
- Music Composer : Philippe Sarde
- Assistant directors : Alain Centonze, Remy Duchemin
- Editor : Anne-Marie Deshayes
- Sound Recordist : Pierre Befve
- Producer : Véra Belmont
- Associate producers : Claude Berri, Jacques Dorfmann
- Production Designer : Philippe Galland
- Director of Photography : Bruno Nuytten
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Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Drama, War
- Themes : Childhood
- Production language : French
- Production country : France
- Original French-language productions : Unspecified
- Nationality : 100% French (France)
- Production year : 1975
- French release : 03/09/1975
- Runtime : 1 h 30 min
- Current status : Released
- Visa number : 43252
- Visa issue date : 16/07/1975
- Approval : Unknown
- Production formats : 35mm
- Color type : Color
- Audio format : Mono
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About
After working in television and theater, Téchiné first came to prominence with his second film: Souvenirs d'en France (French Provincial) (1974) a curious mix of black comedy, romantic drama and nostalgia with a distinctly Brechtian imprint. The film was inspired by Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons and filmed in the director's native village. It is a highly compressed history of a small-town family from early in the century through the Resistance and on to May 1968. Téchiné explored the relationship between the grand scope of life and more personal histories. Notably, the film stars Jeanne Moreau ; the director's work has since been distinguished by offering key roles to respected actresses.
