I am forever intrigued as to how widely film makers spread their nets in order to find material. Here we have an adaptation of the novel 'I sent a letter to my love' by Welsh-born Booker Prize winner Bernice Rubens with the setting changed from Porthcawl to Brittany and in which the characters of dowdy spinster Amy, her crippled brother Stan and their friendly neighbour Gywneth have become Louise, Gilles and Yvette.
Bernice Rubens was renowned for bringing out the extraordinary in ordinary lives and who better to realise this than the truly extraordinary talents of Simone Signoret, Jean Rochefort and Delphine Seyrig. The dynamic between these consummate professionals is a joy to behold and each characterisation is of the utmost subtlety. Wonderful also to see veteran Madeleine Ozeray in a touching cameo as an elderly woman who visits her local poste restante each day hoping to receive a letter from a beau she has not seen for thirty years.
Simone Signoret and director Moshé Mizrahi had scored a palpable hit three years earlier with 'Madame Rosa'. Second collaborations are apt to be something of a let down but this one, in its own quiet way, packs just as big a punch.
Bernice Rubens was renowned for bringing out the extraordinary in ordinary lives and who better to realise this than the truly extraordinary talents of Simone Signoret, Jean Rochefort and Delphine Seyrig. The dynamic between these consummate professionals is a joy to behold and each characterisation is of the utmost subtlety. Wonderful also to see veteran Madeleine Ozeray in a touching cameo as an elderly woman who visits her local poste restante each day hoping to receive a letter from a beau she has not seen for thirty years.
Simone Signoret and director Moshé Mizrahi had scored a palpable hit three years earlier with 'Madame Rosa'. Second collaborations are apt to be something of a let down but this one, in its own quiet way, packs just as big a punch.