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2007 Festival Feature Films (March 30 - April 1)

French director Florence Moncorgè-Gabin and French actor Grégori Derangère present this North American premiere of Le Passager de l’été

director Florence Moncorgé-Gabin screenplay Florence Moncorgé-Gabin producers Alain Terzian, Christine Gozlan starring Catherine Frot, Grégori Derangère, Laura Smet, Mathilde Seigner, François Berléand running time 97 min parental guidance

Description
When seasonal laborer Joseph offers his services at Monique’s farm, she doesn’t refuse. For this austere woman whose husband strays into a new family life when leaving the battlefield, a man’s help is valuable, especially at the start of a particularly busy summer. Little by little, Joseph finds his place between Monique, the boss, Jeanne, her school teacher daughter, and the old mother-in-law. It doesn’t take long for his reputation as a hard worker and handsome man to reach the village, inciting curiosity and envy. As the days go by, Monique begins to see him differently, gripped by feelings she never imagined she would feel again. As the season passes, Joseph and Jeanne become friends. They are young and she can teach him to read and write. Silent and passionate, ambiguous and powerful bonds are formed between this man and these women. A storm is brewing that will mark the future of every one of them.

director/screenwriter
Florence Moncorgé-Gabin

actress
Catherine Frot

actress
Laura Smet

actor
Gregori Derangère

actor
François Berléand

selected films since 1996

actress

Mathilde Seigner

Interview with Director Florence Moncorgé-Gabin

A story from long ago

I have had this story inside me for a very long time. I wanted to tell a tale about an impossible love in the countryside; a world that I knew well having grown up there. It was just before peasants became farmers, before tractors and mechanization turned a traditional world on its head. I also wanted to explore the desires of women from different generations who are attracted to the same man. Dealing with these feelings in a little country village brought a different viewpoint. There, and especially back then, more things were left unsaid, there were more codes and different habits creating even more contrast with the passion.

When I started writing, episodes from my childhood came back to me, tinted by what my father had said. To everybody else he was an actor, but to us, he was also a peasant.* Joseph’s character is inspired by both what he might have been like as a young man, as well as by the image he gave in his early films.

Passion as the only guiding principle

Nobody says “I love you” in this film because to me, the words are meaningless. I’m convinced that only physical attraction prevails. Men and women are objects of desire. If that feeling is mutual then they can come together without any consequences. Falling in love is a trap. From the first time this man appears out of nowhere, I did everything I could so the female characters would fall in love with him. He has the faults of a man, but he’s also madly charming. He’s the flame around which the moths burn themselves. He had to be inaccessible. Monique gradually falls in love with him and hanging on to him becomes her only preoccupation.

*Florence Moncorgé-Gabin is referring to his father, the acclaimed French actor Jean Gabin.

en français | time schedule | feature films | short films | program [PDF]