Quand la mer monte... (2004)

Quand la mer monte... is a French romantic film drama first released in 2004, directed by Yolande Moreau and Gilles Porte.  The film stars Yolande Moreau, Wim Willaert, Olivier Gourmet, Jackie Berroyer and Philippe Duquesne.  It has also been released under the title: When the Sea Rises.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


Irène, a travelling stage performer in her early fifties, is touring northern France with her subversive one-woman show.  It is a solitary life and she misses the comfort of her home and family.  One day, whilst driving to her next venue, her car breaks down.  A passing motor-cyclistist named Dries comes to her rescue; he fixes her car and, in return, she gives him a ticket to her next show.   Irène takes a liking to the taciturn Belgian, whilst he becomes fascinated by her and her troubadour lifestyle.  Could this be just a passing interest or the beginning of something more substantial...?

Quand la mer monte is a beguiling first film from the improbable directorial partnership of actress Yolande Moreau and cinematographer Gilles Porte.   The simplicity of the story and its prosaic, understated realisation gives the film both a stark realism and a highly engaging lyrical quality, making it one of the most unusual and charming French films in recent years.    Critically acclaimed, the film won two Césars in 2005 – the best actress award for Yolande Moreau and the award for the best first fictional film.

Yolande Moreau should be a familiar face to devotees of contemporary French cinema.  A highly respected character actor, she is most often seen in supporting roles, playing rather pitiful or comical middle-aged women, often with personality disorders or learning difficulties.   It is a delight to see her, for once, in a substantial leading role, playing a more down-to-earth character, since, as this film amply demonstrates, Moreau is an actress with far more talent and screen presence than is apparent from her more familiar repertoire.  Her portrayal of an introverted middle-aged vaudevillian rediscovering the joys of romantic love in the autumn of her life is exquisitely subtle and moving.  Her co-star Wim Willaert is just as convincing, and together they make this bitter-sweet romantic drama a worthwhile  and truthful variant on the familiar Un homme et une femme theme.

The setting – a morose northern France – serves the film well, accentuating the realism of the piece without distracting from what the film is meant to be about, which is too ordinary middle-aged people accidentally falling in love.  The sombre location, consisting of grey industrial towns and a barren coastline, emphasises the solitary lives of the two protagonists.  This makes an effective contrast with the strained gaiety of the tawdry entertainment world they are both drawn to, which offers them both a partial escape from their drab, meaningless lives.  The setting perfectly evokes the melancholic interior world of Irène and Dries – a bleak wintry hinterland of the soul which gradually segues into a bright spring as love works its wonder on them and awakens them from the colourless semi-existence of middle-aged dormancy.  A simple but beautifully composed film.

© James Travers 2007

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