Changing Times (film)
- Catherine Deneuve: Cécile
- Gérard Depardieu: Antoine Lavau
- Gilbert Melki: Nathan
- Malik Zidi: Sami
- Lubna Azabal: Nadia / Aïcha
- Tanya Lopert: Rachel Meyer
- Nabila Baraka: Nabila
- Jabir Elomri: Saïd
- Nadem Rachati: Bilal
- Stéphane Rouabah: Antoine's chauffeur
- Mostapha Ziraoui: construction manager
- Hicham Ibrahimi: Receptionist
- Bouchaïd Kidi: jeweler
- Christophe Joyous: players in the casino
Changing Times ( Original title: Les Temps qui chan gent ) is a French film by André Téchiné drama starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu in the year 2004.
Action
The French engineer Antoine Lavau can be put to Morocco to oversee the construction of an audiovisual center for French television. Secretly, he hopes, in North Africa to find his childhood love Cécile, he has more than 30 years ago saw the last time. He finally tracks down in Tangier, where she works as a radio presenter for a Franco- Arab program. Antoine sends her first roses - anonymous. But Cecile, who is now married to the younger Jewish doctor Nathan wants to know nothing of her secret admirer.
Cécile's and Nathan's son Sami, meanwhile, comes with his Moroccan girlfriend Nadia and her son Saïd to visit. Sami, who actually loves men, arrived primarily from Paris to see his friend Bilal. Nadia, who knows about Sami's relationship with Bilal and it shows understanding, on the other hand would like to meet her twin sister, Aïcha. The two sisters have not seen each other for six years, but Aïcha, who works at a fast-food restaurant, the meeting say from. You must make too many long hours to make ends meet, and was too tired.
Antoine and Cécile finally meet in a supermarket again when Antoine injured on a glass wall the nose and Nathan makes him first aid. To regain Cécile's heart for himself, Antoine asks his assistant Moroccan Nabila for help. You shall bring him know if spells can help him in his conquest. Nabila, who wants to help him get rid of his obsession, he is instead a video showing the ceremony of exorcism. As Cécile not as promised calls in Antoine Hotel, equips her Antoine a visit at home. He secretly hidden then a photo of himself and Cécile under her marriage bed. Thereupon Cécile decides to take a trip with Antoine. After their car breaks down they go on foot. Here Antoine Cécile recalls that they have once sworn eternal love, and confesses to want to spend time with her the rest of his life.
Antoine finally examined Cécile also in their radio station. However, Cécile throws him immediately. Meanwhile, Nathan confronts her with Nadia tablets addiction. For the purpose of detoxification Sami is ready to return with Saïd and Nadia to Paris. Before Nadia departs with Sami, she goes into the fast-food restaurant where Aïcha works. She watches her sister, but does not dare to approach them. Sami again meets one last time with Bilal. As they say goodbye to each other, Sami gives his friend a plane ticket to Paris. Bilal could at any time come and see him. On the advice of her colleague Rachel goes Cecile, who leads an increasingly poorer marriage to the unfaithful Nathan, finally on Antoine's overtures one. In contrast to Antoine but she wants to get involved only to a brief affair. Nathan, meanwhile, met Aïcha and offers her to examine her sick mother. Aïcha, a devout Muslim, is reluctant at first, to chat with Nathan, but then rises into his car and drives with him along the coast. Furthermore it can be on one to flirt with him.
In a sudden landslide at the site Antoine is seriously injured and subsequently in a coma. Cécile visited his bedside henceforth regularly and decides to leave Nathan. This eventually takes on a new location in Casablanca. Many months later, when Cécile Antoine again visited the hospital and the photo burns, which she found under her bed, Antoine wakes up from a coma and both hold each others hands.
Background
Filming took place from late April until July 2004 on location in Morocco instead of, among other things, on the Tangier- Boukhalef in Tangier. For the main actor Gérard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve, it was the seventh joint film. Already François Truffaut in the film drama The Last Metro (Le Dernier Metro, 1980) they played lovers.
Changing Times celebrated on 8 December 2004 in France premiered at the L' Industrie du Rêve Film Festival. On 12 February 2005, the film was first shown at the Berlinale in Germany and took it in the competition for the Golden Bear in part. In the German cinema, the film drama, however, never came. On September 4, 2007, it was released on DVD and shown a year later on 21 October 2008 on German television. 2009, the film was also released under the alternate title Life Is Changing on DVD.
Reviews
The lexicon of the International film according to the film will focus not only "on the inner drama of his protagonists ." He leads " with the war in Iraq and the plight of African exiles on Europe's doorstep current subplots, which undermine the conflict." Cinema said that the " loquacious, unhappy dubbed movie [ ... ] so overloaded with problems " will, " that you quickly lose interest ."
Prism, however, found that " [k ] leash movements, looks and especially the drama of the great French actor duo Deneuve / Depardieu meet in their seventh common feature film to tell expressively and movingly of undecided love and hidden feelings ."
Awards
Changing Times ran in 2005 in the competition for the Golden Bear at the 55th International Film Festival of Berlin. Malik Zidi was nominated for a César Award for Best Newcomer, but lost to Mathilde Gaspard Ulliel - A Very Long Engagement. Furthermore Téchiné's 2006 film received three nominations for the Satellite Award in the Best Foreign Language Film, Best DVD and Best Original Screenplay.