Marguerite Duras was a celebrated French author whose works included novels, plays and film scripts. She was also a director. Cet amour-là depicts the unconventional relationship between Duras and a young man who was less than half her age. Yann Andreas became obsessed with the author, writing her daily for five years. In 1980, Duras invited him for a visit and they remained together until her death in 1996.
Based on Andreas’ memoirs of his unusual love for the writer (he is gay), director Josee Dayan’s film is centred on a tour-de-force performance by Jeanne Moreau as Duras. Moreau and Duras were friends who worked together on numerous film projects. Moreau captures the author’s fiery temperament and voracious appetites during the last 16 years of her life. She is fiercely credible as a woman who wants to retain her dignity and self respect. Yann Andrea (Aymeric Demarigy) is totally devoted to her, even after being kicked out of the house when she wishes to retreat into loneliness. Moreau portrays Duras as a worldly, proud woman who is at times filled with self-doubt but remains conscious of her importance as an artist. Appropriately, Dayan’s screenplay is written in the haunting, poetic style that will be familiar to anyone who has sampled Duras’ great literary achievements.
France, 2001. English subtitles. Colour. Dolby digital stereo. 98 mins.
Both Jeanne Moreau and Josee Dayan will attend the Nov 28 screening of ‘Cet amour-là’. There will be an on-stage interview with Jeanne Moreau following the Nov 29 showing of ‘Cet amour-là’. This programme also contains a retrospective tribute to Jeanne Moreau extensive career in the cinema.