Un amour de pluie (1974)
Directed by Jean-Claude Brialy

Film Review

One of the most emblematic actors of the French New Wave,  Jean-Claude Brialy enjoyed a long and successful acting career which continued long after the Nouvelle Vague had passed into history.  Even before he made a name for himself as an actor he harboured aspirations of becoming a film director, and began as a trainee assistant to Jean Renoir on French Cancan (1955).  In the 1970s, he directed four films for cinema, one of the most popular being Un amour de pluie, a light sentimental drama which pairs his friend Romy Schneider with Italian heart-throb Nino Castelnuovo, who is still best remembered as Catherine Denueve's husband-not-to-be in Jacques Demy's schmaltzy musical Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964).

Un amour de pluie appears naive and superficial by today's standards but it evokes, with delicacy and a fair smattering of authenticity, the delights and upsets that arose from the then familiar phenomenon of the holiday romance.  With a less capable cast, the film would most probably have been a wishy-washy affair, but with an actress of the calibre of Romy Schneider in the lead role, with the more than capable Bénédicte Bucher playing her daughter, the main characters acquire a reality that lends charm and substance to the anodyne plot.  Brialy's direction is more competent than inspired, but he does at least get the most from his supremely photogenic stars, and it's a delight to see Schneider in a more down-to-earth role, looking more radiant than ever.

Film Synopsis

Elisabeth Delerue, a married woman, spends her summer holidays with her 15-year-old daughter Cécile in Vittel, just as they do every year.  As Elisabeth embarks on a holiday romance with a handsome Italian named Giovanni, Cécile experiences her first taste of love with Georges, a 17-year-old chef who is employed at the luxury hotel where the Delerues are staying.  Both Elisabeth and Cécile find a new lease of life through their amorous adventures, but heartbreak is sure to come before the holiday is over...