Les temps qui changent
Encyclopedia
Changing Times is a 2004 French drama film directed by André Téchiné
, starring Catherine Deneuve
and Gérard Depardieu
. The film follows a construction engineer who goes to Morocco to oversee a new project and catch up with the woman he loved 30 years ago.
Antoine has literally counted the time (31 years 8 months 20 days) since he last saw Cécile and has spent years tracking her down. He has come to Morocco expressly to make her fall back in love with him. He has never married and in his obsession to win Cécile’s heart, he recruits the help of Nabila, his Moroccan assistant, to investigate the possibility of using witchcraft. Antoine and Cécile eventually cross paths in a supermarket when Antoine walks into a plate glass wall, injuring his nose, and Nathan, who is with Cécile, rushes over to administer first aid.
Around the time Antoine arrives in Tangier, Cécile and Nathan’s bisexual son, Sami, who lives in Paris, appears unannounced with his live-in girlfriend, Nadia, and Saïd, her 9-year-old son by another man. Sami often leaves them alone to engage in trysts with his Moroccan boyfriend Bilal, who briefly lived in Paris and is now looking after a villa for its absents owners. Bilal more or less accepts Sami’s ambivalence and they restart their affair. Nadia, meanwhile, hopes to reconnect with her identical twin sister, Aïcha, a conservative observant Muslim who works in a McDonald’s, but Aicha is reluctant to see her and after many efforts Nadia is just able to glimpse her sister from far. When Nadia addiction to prescriptions pills is exposed by Nathan, they are forced to find their own living arrangements and Sami decides that is time to go back to Paris.
Cécile, who is cold and formal, has buried her youthful dreams coping with life in a state of mild exasperation. Her marriage is less than blissful. Nathan, whose career has stalled, has had several affairs. Eventually, Cecile encourage by Rachel, a friend and coworker, accepts Antonie advances, initially proposing a brief fling, rather than his preference for them to end their days together. They make love and Antoine is closer to reach his goal just when he was losing all hope. However, shortly thereafter, Antoine suffers a serious accident after a landslide at the construction site where he works and is hospitalized in a comatose state. Cécile visits him constantly at the hospital.
Cécile and Nathan separate. He moves to Casablanca
accepting a new job. It is suggested that he has started a relationship with Aïcha. Bilal refuses to take Samis’s offer of a trip to Paris, to which Sami, Nadia and Saïd return. Months later in one of Cécile’s hospital visits, Antoine wake up from his comatose state, and their hands join.
. The film was released on DVD in the United States on 3 October 2006.
André Téchiné
André Téchiné , is a French screenwriter and film director. He has had a long and distinguished career that places him among the best post-New Wave French film directors....
, starring Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
and Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
. The film follows a construction engineer who goes to Morocco to oversee a new project and catch up with the woman he loved 30 years ago.
Plot
Antoine, a successful French civil engineer, travels to Tangiers to supervise the construction of buildings for a large media center. His real motivation, however, is to seek out his first love from thirty years ago, Cécile. Having discovered that Cécile lives in Tangiers, he begins anonymously sending her roses everyday at the radio station where she hosts a French-Arabic program, but she is uninterested in her secret admirer. Cécile, who married a man shortly after ending her relationship with Antoine just to divorce later, is currently married to a much younger man, Nathan, a Moroccan Jewish physician.Antoine has literally counted the time (31 years 8 months 20 days) since he last saw Cécile and has spent years tracking her down. He has come to Morocco expressly to make her fall back in love with him. He has never married and in his obsession to win Cécile’s heart, he recruits the help of Nabila, his Moroccan assistant, to investigate the possibility of using witchcraft. Antoine and Cécile eventually cross paths in a supermarket when Antoine walks into a plate glass wall, injuring his nose, and Nathan, who is with Cécile, rushes over to administer first aid.
Around the time Antoine arrives in Tangier, Cécile and Nathan’s bisexual son, Sami, who lives in Paris, appears unannounced with his live-in girlfriend, Nadia, and Saïd, her 9-year-old son by another man. Sami often leaves them alone to engage in trysts with his Moroccan boyfriend Bilal, who briefly lived in Paris and is now looking after a villa for its absents owners. Bilal more or less accepts Sami’s ambivalence and they restart their affair. Nadia, meanwhile, hopes to reconnect with her identical twin sister, Aïcha, a conservative observant Muslim who works in a McDonald’s, but Aicha is reluctant to see her and after many efforts Nadia is just able to glimpse her sister from far. When Nadia addiction to prescriptions pills is exposed by Nathan, they are forced to find their own living arrangements and Sami decides that is time to go back to Paris.
Cécile, who is cold and formal, has buried her youthful dreams coping with life in a state of mild exasperation. Her marriage is less than blissful. Nathan, whose career has stalled, has had several affairs. Eventually, Cecile encourage by Rachel, a friend and coworker, accepts Antonie advances, initially proposing a brief fling, rather than his preference for them to end their days together. They make love and Antoine is closer to reach his goal just when he was losing all hope. However, shortly thereafter, Antoine suffers a serious accident after a landslide at the construction site where he works and is hospitalized in a comatose state. Cécile visits him constantly at the hospital.
Cécile and Nathan separate. He moves to Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
accepting a new job. It is suggested that he has started a relationship with Aïcha. Bilal refuses to take Samis’s offer of a trip to Paris, to which Sami, Nadia and Saïd return. Months later in one of Cécile’s hospital visits, Antoine wake up from his comatose state, and their hands join.
Cast
- Catherine DeneuveCatherine DeneuveCatherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
as Cécile - Gérard DepardieuGérard DepardieuGérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...
as Antoine - Gilbert MelkiGilbert Melki-Biography:Nephew of actor Claude Melki , Melki grew up in a Jewish family in Algeria. His father, an antiques dealer, came from Khenchela in Algeria and his mother was from France. Both hid during the war: his father in Lyon and his mother in NormandyHis father sent him to a woodworking school,...
as Nathan - Malik ZidiMalik ZidiMalik Zidi is a French film, television and theater actor. Zidi is a four-time nominated and one time César Award recipient for Most Promising Actor.-Career:...
as Sami - Lubna AzabalLubna AzabalLubna Azabal is a Belgian actress, born in Brussels to a Moroccan father and a Spanish mother. After studing at the Conservatoire royal of Brussels, she began a theatrical career in Belgium. In 1997, she took her first film role when Belgian film-maker Vincent Lannoo chose her to act beside Olivier...
as Nadia/Aïcha - Nadem Rachati as Bilal
- Tanya Lopert as Rachel
- Nabila Baraka as Nabila
- Idir Elomri as Saïd
Release
Though the film's initial release was in December 2004, its regular release in the United States was not until mid-July 2006, when it opened at the Paris Theatre in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. The film was released on DVD in the United States on 3 October 2006.
Accolades
- Berlin Film FestivalBerlin International Film FestivalThe Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
(Germany)- Nominated: Golden Berlin Bear (André Téchiné)
- César Awards (France)
- Nominated: Most Promising Actor (Malik Zidi)
- Satellite AwardsSatellite AwardsThe Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
(USA)- Nominated: Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language
- Nominated: Best Overall DVD
- Nominated: Best Screenplay – Original (Pascal Bonitzer, Laurent Guyot and André Téchiné)