| Parlez-moi de la pluie (Let's Talk About the Rain) | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Agnès Jaoui |
| Written by | Agnès Jaoui Jean-Pierre Bacri |
| Starring | Agnès Jaoui Jean-Pierre Bacri Jamel Debbouze Pascale Arbillot Guillaume De Tonquédec Frédéric Pierrot |
| Release date(s) | 17 September 2008 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Parlez-moi de la pluie (Let's Talk About the Rain)(2008) is the third film directed by Agnès Jaoui from an original screenplay by her husband Jean-Pierre Bacri ( the invincible team 'Jabac' as Alain Resnais has nicknamed them ) - after The Taste of Others and Look at Me. It takes its title from a song by Georges Brassens. Agnès Jaoui has said in an interview that one day she was on her way to a writing session with Jean-Pierre and had in her ears the song 'L'orage' by Georges Brassens which opens with the lines 'parlez-moi de la pluie, et non pas du beau temps.'
The film is a comedy of middle-class French life ' examining culture clashes, puncturing smugness, exposing fault lines, finding strength in romantic and familial relationships and discovering an underlying sadness that stops some way short of tragedy.' (Philip French in The Observer.) The film is set in a small town in Provence during a rainy August. Following the death of her widowed mother Agathe Villanova comes from Paris to deal with the sale of the home where she and her younger sister Florence were brought up, and to announce her entry into politics. She is the author of a feminist best-seller and a divorced film-maker Michel wants to make a TV documentary about her. Michel is having an affair with Agathe's sister. His collaborator is a young Algerian hotel clerk Karim, whose elderly mother has worked for most of her life as a servant with the Villanova family. Agathe's prejudice is put under the microscope when she records a series of interviews with Karim.
'The characters weave around each other for a week or so, occasionally colliding...everyone comes to have a better knowledge of themselves..the dialogue rings true..the ensemble acting is perfect..The film compares favourably with the best of Éric Rohmer.' (Philip French)