Notre histoire
1984 Comedy / Drama
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Credits
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Summary
Robert Avranche, a middle-aged, alcoholic garage owner, is sitting on a train, reflecting
on the emptiness of his life. An attractive young woman, Donatienne, suddenly enters
the compartment and offers to make love to him. Robert accepts but, when the woman leaves
the train afterwards, he decides to follow her...
Review
In a similar vein to Blier’s splendidly surreal Buffet froid, Notre histoire
takes conventional themes, such as bourgeois hypocrisy and obsessive love, and presents
them in a disorientatingly unpredictable way. Whilst the result is less successful
than Buffet froid, strong performances from the film’s lead actors, Alain Delon
and Nathalie Baye, and an unusual narrative structure makes this a strangely compelling
film, with a dark streak of melancholia.
By taking on the role of a middle-aged loser, Alain Delon makes a radical break from the hard man gangster/cop stereotype which had hitherto formed the mainstay of his acting career. The change serves Delon well, and he gives one of his best screen performances (winning him the Best Actor César in 1985). However, the public were less convinced, and the film proved to be something of a commercial disaster. © James Travers 2001
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