Pascale Vignal

Actor and singer on the decline, Sergio, alcoholic, goes adrift. His son, Simon, undertakes to make a film with and on him, to try to bring him back to life, "by force with others"

January, 1920. 350,000 French soldiers remain missing in action. Major Dellaplane tirelessly matches the dead and the wounded with families' descriptions. Honor and ethics drive him; he hates the idea of "the unknown soldier." Into his sector, looking for her husband, comes a haughty, politically connected Parisian, Madame Irène de Courtil. Brusquely, Dellaplane offers her 1/350,000th of his time, but as their paths cross and she sees his courage and resolve, feelings change. After he finds a surprising connection between her missing husband and a local teacher, Irène makes Dellaplane an offer. This man of action hesitates: has he missed his only chance?

A young boy disappears after school. Is it a runaway? An abduction? Faced with the impotence of the police investigators, the grandfather comes to Paris and introduces himself into the world of child prostitution and drugs.

どこか晩年のルノワールを思わせる様な老画家が、自然豊かなパリ郊外に家政婦と共に暮らしている。時は今世紀初頭。初秋の日曜日。いつもの様にパリから息子夫婦が三人の孫を連れてやって来る。広い庭で遊ぶ子供らの声を聞き、老人は満足げだ。そこへ不意に、自慢の娘イレーヌが立ち寄る。恋多き彼女のもたらす空気に息子夫婦はやや馴染めずに居たが……。美しい色彩の中、古き良き時代のある一日を牧歌的に描いた、カンヌ映画祭監督賞受賞作。