La veuve Couderc (1971)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Pierre Granier-Deferre

Writers:

Georges Simenon (novel)
Pierre Granier-Deferre (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

15 September 1971 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Romance

Plot:

Her youth has been spent working for a farm family, being raped by father and son, marrying the son who has now left her a happy widow...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Based On Novel

Cast

Alain Delon	...	Jean Lavigne
Simone Signoret	...	Veuve Couderc Tati
Ottavia Piccolo	...	Félicie
Jean Tissier	...	Henri
Monique Chaumette	...	Françoise
Boby Lapointe	...	Désiré
Jean-Pierre Castaldi
Pierre Collet	...	Le commissaire Mallet
Robert Favart
André Rouyer	...	Policeman
François Valorbe	...	Le colonel croix-de-feu

Directed by
Pierre Granier-Deferre

Writing credits
Georges Simenon		(novel)
Pierre Granier-Deferre		adaptation and
Pascal Jardin		adaptation & dialogue

Produced by
Raymond Danon	....	producer
Maurice Jacquin	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Philippe Sarde

Cinematography by
Walter Wottitz

Film Editing by
Jean Ravel

Production Design by
Jacques Saulnier

Set Decoration by
Charles Merangel

Costume Design by
Jacques Cottin		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Maud Begon	....	makeup artist
Michel Deruelle	....	makeup artist
Jacqueline Juillard	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Ralph Baum	....	production manager
Alain Belmondo	....	unit manager
Lionel de Sousa	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jean-François Delon	....	assistant director
Philippe Lefebvre	....	assistant director

Art Department
Robert André	....	assistant art director
Georges Glon	....	assistant art director
Charles Merangel	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Yves Marie Dacquay	....	assistant sound
Jean Labussière	....	sound engineer
Alex Pront	....	sound mixer: S.I.S. - Le Garenne
Jean Rieul	....	sound mixer: S.I.S. - Le Garenne

Camera and Electrical Department
Philippe Brun	....	camera operator
Valery Ivanow	....	assistant camera (as Valéry Ivanow)
Yves Pouffary	....	assistant camera
Victor Rodrigue	....	still photographer

Editorial Department
Michèle Robert-Lauliac	....	assistant editor (as Michèle Robert)

Music Department
Jean-Michel Defaye	....	orchestrator
William Flageollet	....	music engineer

Other crew
Nicole Cateux	....	administrator
Odette Darrigol	....	production secretary
Mauricette Laglasse	....	administrator
Hélène Sebillotte	....	script supervisor
Henri Vergnes	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Lira Films
• Pegaso Cinematografica

Distributors

• Centfox Film (1972) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Compagnie Française de Distribution Cinématographique (CFDC) (1971) (France) (theatrical)
• International Cinefilm (1974) (USA) (subtitled)
• Lionsgate (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Auditorium S.I.S. La Garenne  sound mixing
• Carita  wigs

Also Known As:

L'evaso (Italy)
The Widow Couderc

Runtime:

Hungary:90 min | West Germany:89 min | USA:92 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:11 | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Cheuge, Côte-d'Or, France

Company:

Lira Films

Not a classic, but a fine 'little' film

1971's La Veuve Couderc aka The Widow Couderc is a small but effective adaptation of a Georges Simenon novel uniting Alain Delon and Simone Signoret in a doomed romance in a less than idyllic provincial farm in the mid-30s. Rather than the whodunnits the author is most famous for, it's a character piece, with Delon's escaped convict taking a job as handyman on Signoret's farm and drifting into an affair with her that doesn't stop him having a fling with the local good-time-had-by-all girl next door. Between neighborhood gossip and Signoret's neighbors and former in-laws' determination to get her farm by hook or by crook, there are no prizes for guessing it'll end badly for all concerned. It's certainly strange to see Le Pen supporter Delon in a film that makes a few passing jabs at pre-WW2 French fascism even if the film is more concerned with people than politics. Director Pierre Granier-Deferre good eye for detail and there's a nice, wistful score from Philippe Sarde that plays like a more restrained dry run for his more overtly romantic work on La Choses de la Vie.

Sadly the subtitling in LionsGate's new DVD goes spectacularly off in the final caption, which is not only horribly mistranslated but even manages to change the year 1922 into 1992!