Product Details

• Actors: Yolande Moreau, Wim Willaert, Olivier Gourmet
• Directors: Yolande Moreau
• Format: Color, Import, Widescreen, Subtitled
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000E60UNC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257,857 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

In this artfully engaging comedy, written and directed by Yolande Moreau and Gilles Porte, Irène (Moreau) has left her family at home to go on the road with her darkly funny one-woman show, in which she dons a grotesque papier-mâché mask with beady eyes and an exaggerated beak and proclaims that she has just committed a murder. When Dries (Wim Willaert), an odd but helpful stranger, fixes Irène's broken-down car, she invites him to her show; he soon won't leave her alone. Irène's act, if a bit overplayed in the film, has a hypnotic effect, and as she and Dries start to fall for each other, the fantasy life to which she increasingly yields is well juxtaposed with the natural performances: the excellent actors capture the giddiness of relating to someone in just the right way at just the right moment. In French.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Another gem from Belgium, October 25, 2006

By 

shanarufus (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quand la mer monte... (Original French Version With English Subtitles) (DVD)

and not the Dardenne Bros. this time. NYT critic Holden writes "bittersweet road movie" and yes it is, but so much more. Two 40+ people--the woman, a traveling performance artist with an unusual show and a man, a ne'er-do-well free spirit, and they meet when she chooses him from the audience to be in her act. And they play. They play and laugh and both delight in the oddities most people would not notice. They are child-like and innocent together and perfect for their roles. Comedy, sadness, La Traviata music, an ugly industrial Belgium made beautiful by superb cinematography. The female lead is also one of the writers/directors. I adored this movie. Don't remember why I rented it (Belgian?) and had no idea what was coming. An extraordinary 90 minutes. Highly recommend.