Notre histoire (1984)

Notre histoire is a French film comedy-drama first released in 1984, directed by Bertrand Blier.  The film stars Alain Delon, Nathalie Baye, Gérard Darmon, Geneviève Fontanel and Jean-Pierre Darroussin.  It has also been released under the title: Our Story.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


Robert Avranche, a middle-aged, alcoholic garage owner, is sitting on a train, reflecting on the emptiness of his life.  An attractive young woman, Donatienne, suddenly enters the compartment and offers to make love to him. Robert accepts but, when the woman leaves the train afterwards, he decides to follow her...

In a similar vein to Blier’s splendidly surreal Buffet froid, Notre histoire takes conventional themes, such as bourgeois hypocrisy and obsessive love, and presents them in a disorientatingly unpredictable way.  Whilst the result is less successful than Buffet froid, strong performances from the film’s lead actors, Alain Delon and Nathalie Baye, and an unusual narrative structure makes this a strangely compelling film, with a dark streak of melancholia.

By taking on the role of a middle-aged loser, Alain Delon makes a radical break from the hard man gangster/cop stereotype which had hitherto formed the mainstay of his acting career.  The change serves Delon well, and he gives one of his best screen performances (winning him the Best Actor César in 1985).  However, the public were less convinced, and the film proved to be something of a commercial disaster.

© James Travers 2001

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