SEVEN CESAR NOMINATIONS!
Best Film, Actor (Depardieu), Actress (De France), Supporting Actress (Citti), Original Screenplay, Sound, Editing
The Festival is delighted to launch the 2007 event with this tender and poignant romance starring the remarkable Gérard Depardieu as a faded, middle-aged dance hall vocalist who falls for an unhappy woman half his age, played by Cecile de France (the enchanting gamine beauty, star of Russian Dolls and two other films in this year’s selection.)
Widely feted at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, THE SINGER features Depardieu’s best performance since Cyrano de Bergerac. He portrays fifty-something Alain Moreau, a small-time crooner in Clermont-Ferrand who sings sentimental favourites in a dance hall till 3:30am. A hardened, honest professional, he knows his style seems dated, but only because he’s lasted the course. One night, Alain spots a beautiful young blonde, Marion (de France) and, with quiet persistence and a frank, self-deprecating attitude, manages to capture her imagination. But the fragile Marion has problems of her own and is unwilling to fall too easily for his evidently practised charms…
The expected clichés in this story never surface; indeed, the emotional chemistry and fluidity between all of the characters is but one of the film’s real joys. A love story of generous heart, THE SINGER never hits a false note.
France 2006 - Romantic Drama (112 mins)
In French with English Subtitles
Director: Xavier Giannoli
Script: Xavier Giannoli
Cast: Gerard Depardieu, Cécile de France,
Mathieu Amalric, Christine Citti