Les destinées sentimentales (2000)
Country: FR/SW
Technical: col/scope 180m
Director: Olivier Assayas
Cast: Emmanuelle Béart, Charles Berling, Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Perrier, Dominique Reymond
Synopsis:
A protestant pastor working in the Charente region is the son of a wealthy Limousin family of porcelain makers but when his marriage breaks up he abandons his fortune and daughter to his wife and departs for Switzerland with the beautiful niece of his good friend, a maker of fine Cognac. Ultimately he is called upon to salvage the family business after his father's death; with workers' rights and the maintenance of a reputation for the finest quality competing for his attention, his wife feels increasingly superseded.
Review:
A sprawling saga of early twentieth century French industrial economics and traditions, where the humanity seems oddly squeezed out and all concerned are destined to suffer meekly. The avoidance of highly dramatic scenes and confrontations is laudable, as is the detail of the enterprise, but at this length it becomes increasingly hard to justify.
Country: FR/SW
Technical: col/scope 180m
Director: Olivier Assayas
Cast: Emmanuelle Béart, Charles Berling, Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Perrier, Dominique Reymond
Synopsis:
A protestant pastor working in the Charente region is the son of a wealthy Limousin family of porcelain makers but when his marriage breaks up he abandons his fortune and daughter to his wife and departs for Switzerland with the beautiful niece of his good friend, a maker of fine Cognac. Ultimately he is called upon to salvage the family business after his father's death; with workers' rights and the maintenance of a reputation for the finest quality competing for his attention, his wife feels increasingly superseded.
Review:
A sprawling saga of early twentieth century French industrial economics and traditions, where the humanity seems oddly squeezed out and all concerned are destined to suffer meekly. The avoidance of highly dramatic scenes and confrontations is laudable, as is the detail of the enterprise, but at this length it becomes increasingly hard to justify.
Country: FR/SW
Technical: col/scope 180m
Director: Olivier Assayas
Cast: Emmanuelle Béart, Charles Berling, Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Perrier, Dominique Reymond
Synopsis:
A protestant pastor working in the Charente region is the son of a wealthy Limousin family of porcelain makers but when his marriage breaks up he abandons his fortune and daughter to his wife and departs for Switzerland with the beautiful niece of his good friend, a maker of fine Cognac. Ultimately he is called upon to salvage the family business after his father's death; with workers' rights and the maintenance of a reputation for the finest quality competing for his attention, his wife feels increasingly superseded.
Review:
A sprawling saga of early twentieth century French industrial economics and traditions, where the humanity seems oddly squeezed out and all concerned are destined to suffer meekly. The avoidance of highly dramatic scenes and confrontations is laudable, as is the detail of the enterprise, but at this length it becomes increasingly hard to justify.