It's late 17th century. The viola da gamba player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe comes home to find that his wife died while he was away. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden into which he moves to dedicate his life to music and his two young daughters Madeleine and Toinette, avoiding the outside world.
The first thing that struck me about this film was the title. Although it has a translation as a subtitle, the proper title is the French one, even for the American release. That is rather uncommon, and would tend to scare people away, so it was a brave decision on someone's part.
And the second thing is Gerard Depardieu. As I understand it, this was still a couple years before American audiences knew who he was. It is easy to see how he went from national (French) fame to international. He is clearly the breakout actor in everything he does.
The first thing that struck me about this film was the title. Although it has a translation as a subtitle, the proper title is the French one, even for the American release. That is rather uncommon, and would tend to scare people away, so it was a brave decision on someone's part.
And the second thing is Gerard Depardieu. As I understand it, this was still a couple years before American audiences knew who he was. It is easy to see how he went from national (French) fame to international. He is clearly the breakout actor in everything he does.