Sandrine Bonnaire is transfixing in Maurice Pialat’s 1983 classic as 17-year-old Suzanne, who seeks refuge from a disintegrating family in a series of impulsive promiscuous affairs.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2006
To Our Loves 1983
À Nos Amours
Sandrine Bonnaire is transfixing in her screen début as 17-year-old Suzanne, who seeks refuge from a disintegrating family in a series of impulsive, promiscuous affairs. Her fulsome sexuality further ratchets up the suppressed passions of her narcissistic brother and insecure mother. Pialat himself appears as Suzanne’s brooding, authoritarian father, and the rapport between them has a depth and vividness that is incredibly moving. The film is considered by many critics as one of the best of the 80s. Its startling combination of psychic energy and psychological veracity ensured that it was also one of the most influential.
“Has any actress made a début of such force – and such youth – as Sandrine Bonnaire managed in À nos amours, made when she was 15?... Bonnaire’s character was no Lolita but truly a young woman, excited, afraid, daring, sensual, and innocent. Everything was there, without coyness or boasting… She already had one of the great watching, waiting, listening, attending faces. Here was a phenomenon of acting.” — David Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Film