Cet Amour-Là (2001)

52% of critics liked it
(23 reviews)
59% of users liked it
(628 ratings)

Noted French filmmaker Josée Dayan directs this portrait of a celebrated love affair between legendary novelist, scriptwriter, essaying, film director and television personality Marguerite Duras and Yann Andrea, a man who is almost half Duras's age. The film opens with Andrea (Aymeric Demarigny), an… More Noted French filmmaker Josée Dayan directs this portrait of a celebrated love affair between legendary novelist, scriptwriter, essaying, film director and television personality Marguerite Duras and Yann Andrea, a man who is almost half Duras's age. The film opens with Andrea (Aymeric Demarigny), an ardent fan who wrote her numerous letters, showing up at her doorstep of her apartment in Brittany. Though Duras (played by French film icon Jeanne Moreau) at the age of sixty five was not looking for a relationship, Andrea soon pushes his way into her life, typing her manuscripts for her and generally becoming her constant companion. Together, they would spend every moment drinking, smoking, and having passionate conversations about everything under the sun. As portrayed in the film, Duras was both a woman of great charm and generosity, but also a profoundly moody character given to great egotism. In spite of this, Andrea and Duras's relationship lasted for sixteen years until her death in 1996. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: Josée Dayan
Written By: Josée Dayan
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Apr 2, 2003 Wide
On DVD: Nov 15, 2005
Studio: New Yorker Films

Critic Reviews

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
It's a tender, sympathetic film from a gifted writer-director, Algerian-born Josee Dayan, who obviously adores Moreau, Duras and literature.
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
Like its subject, Cet Amour-La has a knack for making you focus on the beauty beneath the imperfections.
C.W. Nevius, San Francisco Chronicle
It is a great story, but it hasn't been translated to the screen.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Alive and affecting.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
[Moreau] now in her mid-70s, takes charge of her scenes with an iron-fisted authority that refuses to acknowledge the inert movie around her.
Rex Reed, New York Observer
A film that revels in the insights of Duras' writing and the wisdom of Ms. Moreau's ripe experience as an actress -- a perfectly observed hommage to two extraordinary women of distinction, alone but never lonely.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Neither character comes off too well.
Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune
Moreau's small but telling glances are all the movie has to reveal Duras' loneliness and yearning for a last embrace, but at times it's almost enough.
Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times
Dayan never makes the love story accessible to us, never makes us understand what there is between this couple.
Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News
Moreau brings to the role the sophistication, creative passion and weary wariness only a fellow great artist could evoke with such effortless conviction.
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
Cet Amour-Là founders on the difficulty that faces all movies about artists -- how to contextualize the work into the life without putting the audience to sleep.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Moreau ... who knew Duras quite well and starred in no fewer than four films based on the writer's work, perfectly embodies her friend, and is thoroughly magnificent.

Read all 12 critic reviews

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Cast

Jeanne Moreau
as Marguerite Duras
Tanya Lopert

See full cast

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