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Changing Times

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

Everyone, in every walk of life, has encountered the aching feeling of love- so intense that it doesn't easily go away. But for 30 years? That's how long Antoine (Gerard Depardieu), a vulnerable engineer, has been pining for his first love, Cecile( Catherine Deneuve), the fractious host of a French- Moroccan radio show. He tracks her down and reclaim his long-lost love. French director Andre Techine, a great craftsman, has chosen the picturesque setting of Tangier, Morocco's mediterranean port, as the setting for these two French performing icons, through this is not much of star vehicle.

Techine introduces some rather eccentric characters, such as Cecile's husband, Nathan(Gilbert Melki), an easygoing but financially strapped younger doctor and philanderer who boasts to himself that he has a wife but several mistresses, never aware of the cracks in his marriage. He has a bisexual son who juggles two relationships: one with his tranquilizer-addicted girlfriend, Nadia(Lubna Azubal), Who is also attempting to reunite with her estranged sister; and the candle he holds for his local Moroccan boyfriend, Bilal(Idler Rachanti), the real reason for his coming to Morocco.

When Antoine finally tracks Cecile down, he accidentally smashes his nose into a transparent glass window at the supermarket. With the assistance of Cecile's husband, he makes an abrupt appearance on her doorstep, baffling her. She initially brushes them off, but her discord with her husband keeps the option open that something extraordinary will happen. The plot surf through , but addresses the social commentary of current issues and cultural collision, leaving it up to the viewers to figure it out. The intension seems to be a metaphor for a for a conflicted family. As Antoine's motivations slowly encroach her subtle mind, it makes you genuinely want to cheer this relationship.

Only a french film could manage a rich romance of two aging lovers without irony. Hollywood would have made this a total soap opera. Techine cherishes the human reaction that are often unpredictable. As in the beginning of the film, when Antoine miraculously survive a mudslide in a rainy construction site- an indication of how the eternal passion of love can never be buried and of how one can overcome adversity with powerful spiritual feeling.

Directed by André Téchiné
Written (in French and Arabic, with English subtitles) by Mr. Téchiné
Laurent Guyot and Pascal Bonitzer
Director of photography: Julien Hirsch
Edited by Martine Giordano
Music by Juliette Garrigues
Produced by Paulo Branco
Released by Koch Lorber Films.
Running time: 95 minutes.
This film is not rated.

Cast: Catherine Deneuve (Cécile)
Gérard Depardieu (Antoine)
Gilbert Melki (Nathan)
Lubna Azabal (Nadia/Aicha)
Malik Zidi (Sami)
Bilal (Nadem Rachati)
, and Tanya Lopert (Rachel).