Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
Imagine, for a moment, that you are browsing through one of the great art museums somewhere in the world and come across a beautiful French impressionistic painting of a family gathered together for a Sunday in the country. There's no one else nearby and as you drink in the lovely images, suddenly the scene in the painting comes to life. Perhaps it’s the sleep deprivation you've been experiencing or a tad too much LSD in your morning coffee. Whatever the reason, the painting turns into cinema and, suddenly, you are yourself drawn into the scene. That, my friend, would be like viewing Bertrand Tavernier's enchanting Sunday in the Country.
Historical Background: Tavernier was born in Lyons, France on April 25th, 1941, son of a poet and journalist. He gave up the study of law out of passion for cinema. Like so many of his contemporary French directors, his first experience in relation to cinema was work as a film critic for such magazines as Cahiers du Cinéma. He wrote extensively about American films and has since acknowledged that his own later work was influenced by the visual techniques developed in Hollywood. He established himself with his debut feature film, The Clockmaker (1973), which won several international awards. That film also launched his fruitful collaboration with Philippe Noiret, which he later renewed in such films as Coup de Torchon (1981) and Life and Nothing But (1990). Some of his other outstanding works include the documentary Mississippi Blues (1983), A Sunday in the Country (1984), Round Midnight (1986), and D'Artagnan's Daughter (1994). Though relatively few of his films have had theatrical releases in the United States, Tavernier enjoys a solid reputation internationally for exceptional film artistry.
The Story: There's not a lot of plot to describe for this film. A Sunday in the Country is more akin to joining a family gathering for a day, getting to know the various members of this family, and marveling at the richness of the relationships and the undercurrents of feelings and remembrances. The year is 1912 and the gathering takes place at the lovely country home of an elderly and widowed artist, Monsieur Ladmiral (Louis Ducreux). As the day begins, we see him going though his morning routine, alone except for his housekeeper, Mercédès (Monique Chaumette). The two share one of those odd relationships that combine familiarity with a distinction in class. Ladmiral is on his way to the train station to meet his son, Gonzague (Michel Aumont), who is coming to visit for the day with his family. Gonzague is married to a pleasant but pious woman named Marie-Thérèse (Geneviève Mnich), who insisted that he change his name to Edouard. His father quite naturally continues to call him Gonzague. Gonzague and Marie-Thérèse have three children, two energetic sons, Emile (Thomas Duval) and Lucien (Quentin Ogier), and a somewhat quiet and fragile daughter named Mireille (Katia Wostrikoff), nicknamed "Mimi." The relationship between Ladmiral and his son is pleasant and respectful, yet one senses a degree of underlying tension. Gonzague is a somewhat constrained kind of person, wearing a stiff collar despite the heat of the summer afternoon. He seems steadfast and dependable, but lacking in passion or imagination. Ladmiral seems a bit disappointed with his son, but partly because he reminds him of himself and the risks in life that he chose not to take. Ladmiral imagines that his son's decision to marry was based mainly on it being what everyone does. The relationship between Gonzague and his wife is respectful enough but decidedly unromantic. Gonzague treats his father gingerly, as though fearing that the old man might croak at any moment. He readily concedes every difference of opinion to the old man, causing Ladmiral to observe bitterly, "The older I get, the more I'm right to him."
The course of the afternoon takes an abrupt turn with the unexpected arrival of Ladmiral's only other child, Irène (Sabine Azéma), a single woman of perhaps thirty years of age. She and her brother Gonzague are as different as night and day. Irène is beautiful and vivacious – as full of life as a summer breeze. She arrives in a shiny roadster and barrels in like a little tornado. Gonzague and his wife had left Ladmiral napping in the gazebo, gently covering his face with his top hat to block the son. Mercédès warns Irène that she'll wake her father but she responds that he shouldn't be napping at this time of day anyway. She rushes out to greet her father and awakens him with a kiss. Irène is the apple of her father's eye, though she visits far less often than her brother. She has an irrepressible courage, telling us, at one point, "I want to live what I dreamed." She is obviously gorgeous enough to have had multiple offers of marriage, but has chosen to remain single and pursue her dreams.
In contrast to her brother, she treats her father as though he were still a young man. She doesn't pamper him for his frailty and engages him in conversation about his art, his hopes, and his retrospective thoughts about the life he has led. Instead of praising all of his paintings, she challenges him to be more daring. There is a beautiful moment near the end of the film when Ladmiral and his daughter have gone to a local club together where there is a small band of musicians and a dance floor. Ladmiral asks Irène, "Did I age too quickly?" She replies in a way that only a loving daughter could. She looks at him soulfully and warmly and asks, "Papa, dance with me. For my pleasure." They dance beautifully together, father and daughter, and when the song runs out, Irène signals the band to continue while they dance some more. For those few moments, he is a young man again, dancing with a beautiful woman of his dreams.
Irène, by her very nature, dominates her environment. Her nephews are crazy about her. After all, she's beautiful and exuberant, showers them with kisses, and talks about what handsome young men they're becoming. Mireille seeks her out as well and shares some quality quiet moments with her aunt, in Irène's old bedroom. The children love their parents, as well, but in comparison to Irène, they are staid, strict, and boring. Later in the afternoon, she gets a call from Paris, presumably from a lover, and is soon rushing off like the wind. As the evening winds down, Ladmiral walks his son and his son's family to the train station and sees them off. He strolls back to his studio, still obviously in the afterglow of having seen his beloved daughter. In his studio, he removes the canvas he had been painting – just another still life, after all, in his conventional style. He places a blank canvas on his easel and turns it to face the autumn foliage in the yard outside. It is never too late in life to start over with a new blank canvas!
Themes: The main themes of the film are the regrets of an old man looking back upon his life and assessing it and the way that self-assessment intertwines with his relationships with his two children. Ladmiral has had a successful career as a painter but chose a rather conventional artistic style rather than exploring new ground in the manner of the impressionists who were his contemporaries. His excuse for not striking a bolder course in life was that the insecurity that would have followed from such a decision would have been too much for his wife. More likely, it was his own fear of failure that reigned in his ambitions to be more innovative. Ladmiral's disappointment with his son is due mainly to his seeing his own defect repeated in his son. During a quiet moment alone (except for Marie-Thérèse napping nearby), Gonzague expresses regret that he had given up painting. "If I failed," he says, "it would've upset papa. I'd just have been in his shadow. Otherwise, I'd have become his rival." Like his father, Gonzague has lived life cautiously, afraid to take risks. By contrast, Irène is full of life and passion, living life with intensity, even when it results in tension or pain, as occurs in a telephone conversation that she has with an unspecified person. Ladmiral admires Irène because she is always forging ahead, making the choices that he never dared to make for himself. In a flashback, Irène's mother asks her, "When will you stop asking so much of life, Irène?" Let us all hope that she never does.
Production Values: The screenplay was adapted by Tavernier from a novel by Pierre Bost. The pace of the film is leisurely, providing viewers with a sense of having spent a relaxing afternoon in the country with this intriguing group of people. At various times, they walk together, chat in various subgroups, quench their thirsts, or dine together. The closest thing to a crisis event in the film is when Mireille is briefly stuck up in a tree, in fear of falling. The character portrayals are richly nuanced, with all of the little subtleties of interaction that occur in families with long histories of issues with one another. There is occasional use of a voiceover narration, which is a bit annoying, but necessary to provide full depth to the main characters. Overall, the script is highly intelligent and leaves us with a series of poetic reflections and impressions about the nature of life and human relationships.
The color palette for this movie is pastels, which was achieved by skipping the bleaching process during the development of the film. The photography looks very much like an impressionist painting. For the outdoor shots, the foliage is in the full bloom of autumn. The camera moves with a fluid gracefulness that provides the film with an exceptionally lyrical quality. The soundtrack is perfectly suited to the images. It features three chamber pieces by the French impressionist Gabriel Fauré: the Quintet for Piano and Strings, Op. 115; the Quartet for Piano and Strings, Op. 121; and the Trio for Piano and Strings, Op. 126. Fauré was an impressionist composer known for his liltingly lyrical pieces.
The performances are superlative, most especially the three leads. Louis Ducreix soulfully portrays the aging painter who is solemnly reviewing his life's work and choices. Ducreix's other performances include appearances in Story of Women (1988) and The Double Life of Veronique (1991). Sabine Azéma is both gorgeous and intense as Irène. I've been dying to come across her again ever since seeing her in Life and Nothing But (1989) and am once again highly impressed. I will now have to try to track her down in Life Is a Bed of Roses (1983) and Melo (1986). Michel Aumont also did a superb job with the less appealing role of Gonzague. Aumont previously appeared in Dangerous Moves (1984). Tavernier also extracted good performances from the children in the film.
Bottom-Line: This is a very enjoyable film, in a low-key kind of way, like a pleasant stroll through the interior of an impressionist painting. Even without any big dramatic moments, it will leave you plenty to think about. A Sunday in the Country earned Tavernier a Best Director award from the Cannes Film Festival. The Kino DVD provides a high-resolution transfer and a superlative commentary track featuring Tavernier himself. The subtitles are the burned on type. The film is in French with English subtitles and has a running time of 94 minutes.
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