ONCE UPON A TIME.. TO OUR LOVES

Protagonists

• Sandrine BONNAIRE, actress, role of Suzanne
• Florence QUENTIN, first assistant on the film
• Arlette LANGMANN, scriptwriter of the film
• Dominique BESNEHARD, actor, role of Robert
• Yann DEDET, editor
• Jacques LOISELEUX, director of photography
• Sylvie PIALAT, stage manager on the film
• Jacques FIESCHI, critic and actor in the film
• Cédric KAHN, filmmaker

Portrait of a film: 15-year-old Suzanne has already had numerous one-night stands. Her father, whom she admires, leaves the marital home suddenly. Coping with a half-insane mother and a tyrannical brother is just too much for Suzanne who also runs away, at first for a loveless marriage and then to the United States with a new lover. To play Suzanne, Maurice Pialat hired Sandrine Bonnaire, a 16-year-old unknown young woman living in a Parisian suburban housing estate, and he himself played Suzanne’s father. The other actors are non-professionals, except for Evelyne Ker who plays the mother. Nine months of shooting, high tensions on the set, a new director of photography, unscheduled scenes: as always with Pialat, the film is an eventful adventure.

Portrait of an Era: Writer Arlette Langmann, who at the time lived with Pialat, was also director and producer Claude Berri’s sister. She wrote a largely autobiographical film, inspired by the story of her family and her own teenage years. This will greatly upset Claude Berri. The pill generation, freedom of customs and emotional emptiness: this is a young girl from the post-feminist era, just before the advent of AIDS and the return of individualism after the collective utopias of the 1970s. There is a permanent confrontation between Sandrine, who lives without barriers, and her parents, who have never enjoyed such freedom. This generational conflict, already very violent in the 70s, persists in the early 80s: it is the focus of Maurice Pialat’s film.

Portrait of a filmmaker: Following the release of To our loves, Sandrine Bonnaire is hailed as a revelation. The film, which exceeds the million tickets sold, earns Pialat great recognition: Louis-Delluc Prize, César for best film, César for best female actress for Sandrine Bonnaire. Pialat, then aged 58, is a rare filmmaker (only ten films), lonely and happy to be so. A painter for many years, his interest lies in the cruelty, darkness and weaknesses of man. The naked man. A fan of true and uncompromising cinema, he exerted a profound influence on the following generations of French filmmakers.