Changing Times (Les Temps Qui Changent) (2004)

63% of critics liked it
(41 reviews)
41% of users liked it
(16,843 ratings)

A worldly construction supervisor travels to Tangier to ensure that a complicated job is completed by the projected date, only to find the torch he carries for a long-lost love rekindled with melancholy passion in director Andre Techine's pensive romantic drama. It's been thirty-years since Antoine… More A worldly construction supervisor travels to Tangier to ensure that a complicated job is completed by the projected date, only to find the torch he carries for a long-lost love rekindled with melancholy passion in director Andre Techine's pensive romantic drama. It's been thirty-years since Antoine (Gerard Depardieu) and Ceclile (Catherine Denuve) called it quits, but time has only seemed to amplify Antoine's longings for the woman that stole his heart so many years ago. Though Antoine has never married, Cecile is now the host of a successful radio show whose extended marriage to Moroccan doctor Nathan (Gilbert Melki) has yielded a now-grown son named Sami (Malik Zidi). When Antoine arrives in Northern Morocco to watch over his latest project, his attention soon diverts to Cecile - who has always been close in Antoine's mind despite the physical and emotional distance between them. Cecil isn't as willing to let go of her blissfully predictable routine, however, and as Antoine dejectedly ponders a means of making her change her mind, the appearance of Cecil's closeted son - who has recently arrived home with his troubled Moroccan girlfriend (Lubna Azabal) in tow - begins to cause complications of its own. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Andre Techine
Written By: Andre Techine, Laurent Guyot, Andrucha Waddington
Genres: Drama, Romance, Art House & International

In Theaters: Dec 8, 2004 Limited
On DVD: Oct 3, 2006
Studio: Koch Lorber Films

Critic Reviews

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
French director Andre Techine sketches a family with the usual flaws, but takes the unusual step of not fixing them.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Volatile and sometimes daring performances by Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu, Gilbert Melki, Malik Zidi, and Lubna Azabal (as twins) contribute to the highly charged and novelistic experience.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
... another gorgeous and immensely satisfying reminder that there are few better directors than Techine when it comes to capturing the vagaries of the heart.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
If Changing Times' last shots don't touch you, your heart may be frozen.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
... more drily sociological than dramatic.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Despite its weaknesses, Changing Times (Les Temps Qui Changent in French) is always watchable and even poignant from time to time.
Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
Here, the times are changing and so is the plot. In fact, you can expect a mood swing every five minutes, in a story so muddled even the strong cast, including Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve, can't save it.
Kam Williams, Upstage Magazine
This poignant, flashback flick, is worthwhile for the opportunity to see a couple of seasoned pros, its very well-acquainted leads, Oscar-nominees Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve, opposite each other again, for the seventh time in their careers.
Rex Roberts, Film Journal International
All but devoted cineastes will be disappointed.
Louis Proyect, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Clash of characters in love set against a clash of civilizations.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Techine would have been better off ditching the supporting characters altogether and focusing on the relationship between Antoine and Cecile.
Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune
[Techine's] observations of culture clashes... are thought-provoking but - like most of the movie - keep the audience emotionally separated from the characters' hearts.
Michele Kenner, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A spare but rich film from French master technician AndrÃ (C) TÃ (C)chinÃ (C).
Jay Antani, Cinema Writer
[a] strangely moving love story
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
Techine is so intrigued by the dramatic differences between the sisters that you might not even notice they are the same actress.
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
Téchiné...is back in form with this engrossing tale of the inconvenient passions that bubble beneath the surface among people who have accepted bourgeois compromise.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Frenchman Techine proves again that he's a master of crafting seemingly ordinary events into a unique and exilarating world, and he's greatly helped by his superlative actors, Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve (in her fourth film with him).
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
This willfully slippery movie seems to make the case both for mixing it up and sticking to your own kind. Which is all of a piece with the sensibility of this wonderfully ambiguous filmmaker, a visionary of our changing times.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"Changing Times" starts with Antoine(Gerard Depardieu) arriving in Tangiers to oversee the building of a broadcast facility of a moderate Muslim satellite network. He is also in town to see his old flame, Cecile(Catherine Deneuve), who he has not seen… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Changing Times" starts with Antoine(Gerard Depardieu) arriving in Tangiers to oversee the building of a broadcast facility of a moderate Muslim satellite network. He is also in town to see his old flame, Cecile(Catherine Deneuve), who he has not seen in more than thirty years and still pines for. Cecile who works as a DJ for a radio station has moved on and is now married to Nathan(Gilbert Melki), a doctor. Her grown son, Sami(Malik Zidi), has just arrived from Paris along with his girlfriend, Nadia(Lubna Azabal), and her son, Said(Idir Elomri). Sami goes off to have sex with his old lover, Bilal(Nadem Rachati), a caretaker, while Nadia seeks to repair the rift between her and her estranged twin sister, Aisha(Lubna Azabal).[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Changing Times" is an interesting but unfocused movie about a postcolonialist world where there is less separating Eastern and Western cultures as time goes on. For example, Aisha is a devout Muslim but works at a McDonald's. But it is very hard to take one's eyes off the two stars(who still have it after all of these years) and when Deneuve and Depardieu are not onscreen, their presence is deeply missed.[/font]
William G

A moderately poignant patchwork.
Sunil J

A bit of an emotional puzzle but I really enjoyed it. The ending was quite sweet.