The Girl from Chartreuse
La Petite Chartreuse
Director: Jean-Pierre DENIS
Based on Pierre Péju’s widely translated novel, this exquisitely realised drama from Jean-Pierre Denis never misses a note in its depiction of big issues.
The exceptional Olivier Gourmet (The Promise) plays Etienne, a gruff, barely recovered alcoholic who runs a bookshop in the French Alps. His solitary existence, consisting mainly of reading and taking long walks in the majestic snowcovered mountains, is destroyed one day when eight-yearold Eva (Bertille Noël-Bruneau) runs out in front of his truck. Authorities assure him there was nothing he could do – but Etienne feels utterly responsible. The accident puts Eva in a coma; her single mother Pascale (The Barbarian Invasions’ Marie-Josée Croze), a would-be actress who works as a waitress, lacking even the inner resources to cope with a healthy child, runs away from caring for a severely injured one. Etienne sits bedside - recounting children’s stories from memory – knowing that somehow Eva represents his last hope.
Whimsical and wrenchingly sad in equal turns, the narrative never follows an obvious path, in its expert depiction of the redemptive power of love.
France 2005 - Drama (90 mins )In French with English Subtitles
Director: Jean- Pierre DenisScript: Jean-Pierre Denis,Yvon Rouvé
Cast: Olivier Gourmet, Marie-Josée Croze, Bertille Noël-Bruneau