Un coeur simple (2008)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Marion Laine

Writers:

Gustave Flaubert (novel)
Marion Laine (writer)

Release Date:

26 March 2008 (France)

Plot:

Unable to forget her first love, Félicité, a simple and kind maid, devotes herself completely to her new master...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sandrine Bonnaire	...	Félicité
Marina Foïs	...	Mathilde Aubain
Pascal Elbé	...	Théodore
Patrick Pineau	...	Liébard
Thibault Vinçon	...	Frédéric
Noémie Lvovsky	...	Nastasie - la soeur de Félicité
Louise Orry-Diquéro	...	Clémence Aubain 9-11 ans
Melissa Dima	...	Clémence Aubain à 4 ans
Antoine Olivera	...	Paul Aubain à 8 ans
Romain Scheiner	...	Victor enfant
Jean Senejoux	...	Paul Aubain 13-15 ans
Marthe Guerin	...	Clémence Aubain à 15 ans (as Marthe Guérin)
Michaël Abiteboul	...	Fabu
Nicolas Bonnefoy	...	Le copain de Théodore
Bruno Blairet	...	Le prêtre

Also Known As:

A Simple Heart (International: English title)

Runtime:

France:105 min | Argentina:105 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR | DTS

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Saint-Martin-Osmonville, Seine-Maritime, France

Company:

B.C. Films

Trivia:

Marion Laine's first theatrical feature film.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Un cuore semplice (1977)

Unsentimental and all the more poignant

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

For her first feature film Marion Laine did not choose the easy way out. She dared adapt a classic French writer (Gustave Flaubert, famous all over the world for "Madame Bovary"), she did not shy away from making a period piece (although things are made easier by the fact that the scene is set in the country). And she gave her two main actresses (Sandrine Bonnaire as the kind-hearted naive heroine and Marina Foïs as her emotionally repressed employer) a memorable role.

Her main quality, however, and what makes this adaptation a success, is her refusal of sentimentality. Although Félicité goes through misfortune after misfortune, "Un Coeur simple" has nothing of a tear jerker. Marion Laine's touch is sharp, her vision of the rural reality in nineteenth century Normandy naturalistic and documentary-like and her sympathy for Félicité restrained. Which does not mean that this is a cold movie. On the contrary, the unfairness of Félicité's lot is so obvious that it needn't be intensified. Pathetic violins and sniveling would be redundant whereas soberness, by contrast, does reinforce the impact of Flaubert's sad story.

Sandrine Bonnaire is literally possessed with her role, a simple woman gifted for life, but prevented by unfavorable circumstances to give free rein to her bursts of passion or tenderness. Marina Foïs, her exact opposite, as repressed in this context as she is naturally exuberant, is frightening as Madame Aubain, who misses out on real life.