| Lumière | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jeanne Moreau |
| Screenplay by | Jeanne Moreau |
| Produced by | Claire Duval |
| Starring | Lucia Bosè Francine Racette Keith Carradine Jeanne Moreau François Simon Bruno Ganz Niels Arestrup Francis Huster |
| Cinematography | Ricardo Aronovich |
| Edited by | Albert Jurgenson |
| Music by | Astor Piazzolla |
| Distributed by | Gaumont Film Company |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Box office | $760 000[2] |
Lumière (English: Light) is a French drama film written and directed by Jeanne Moreau. The semi-autobiographical film is about the friendship between four actresses. It is credited as being one of the first films to focus on female friendship.[3]
Plot
Sarah is an actress who is nearing 40. She invites Laura, her best friend of the past sixteen years, along with two other women, Caroline and Julienne, to a vacation retreat in Provence. Each woman is at a critical point in her life; Sarah has broken up with her longtime partner, while Laura is pregnant but her husband is carrying on an affair with another woman. Caroline is in an unhappy relationship, and Julienne is being pursued by an American actor.
Cast
- Lucia Bosè as Laura
- Francine Racette as Julienne
- Caroline Cartier as Caroline
- Jeanne Moreau as Sarah
- Keith Carradine as David
- François Simon as Grégoire
- Bruno Ganz as Heinrich Grün
- René Féret as Julien
- Niels Arestrup as Nano
- Francis Huster as Thomas
- Patrice Alexsandre as Pétard
- Jacques Spiesser as Saint-Loup
- Chloé Caillat as Marie
- Marie Henriau as Flora
- Hermine Karagheuz as Camille
- Carole Lange (a.k.a. Carole Achache) as Carole
- Paul Bisciglia as The Candle
Reception
Lumière received critical acclaim.[4] Critic Roger Ebert wrote positively of the film, commenting "as the strands of [Moreau's] story become clear and we begin to know the characters, the movie grows into a simple and strong emotional statement."[5]
In a retrospective review, Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote,
Working with the cinematographer Ricardo Aronovich, [Moreau] develops a gliding, peering, shifting aesthetic to match the glossy surfaces with which she conveys shuddering depths of feeling. The camera roves around the actors, capturing the agitation within their controlled gestures, suggesting the elegance of leisure and luxury within which high adventures of passion, pleasure, and power—of self-creation and self-definition—play out.[6]
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Chicago International Film Festival | Grand Prize (Best Feature) | Jeanne Moreau | Nominated |
| Taormina Film Fest | Golden Charybdis | Jeanne Moreau | Nominated | |
| 1977 | César Award | Best Supporting Actress | Francine Racette | Nominated |
References
- ↑ "Lumiere (1976) - IMDb". IMDb.
- ↑ "Lumière (1976) - JPBox-Office".
- ↑ James, Caryn (1994-02-25). "A Femme Fatale For the Ages". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
- ↑ Eder, Richard (1976-11-15). "Jeanne Moreau's 'Lumier' Is Dazzling:Film on Women Written and Directed by the Actress, Who Stars". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
- ↑ Ebert, Roger (January 4, 1977). "Lumiere movie review and film summary (1977)". Rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
- ↑ Brody, Richard (2017-08-08). "Jeanne Moreau's "Lumière" Deserves to Be Revived". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2022-04-13.