A Little Romance (1979)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

George Roy Hill

Writers:

Claude Klotz (novel)
Allan Burns (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 April 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A French boy (Daniel) and an American girl (Lauren), who goes to school in Paris, meet and begin a little romance...

Plot Keywords:

Paris | Coming Of Age | Drunkenness | Gifted | Bittersweet

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 4 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Laurence Olivier	...	Julius
Diane Lane	...	Lauren King
Thelonious Bernard	...	Daniel Michon
Arthur Hill	...	Richard King
Sally Kellerman	...	Kay King
Broderick Crawford	...	Himself
David Dukes	...	George de Marco
Andrew Duncan	...	Bob Duryea
Claudette Sutherland	...	Janet Duryea
Graham Fletcher-Cook	...	Londet
Ashby Semple	...	Natalie Woodstein
Claude Brosset	...	Michel Michon
Jacques Maury	...	Inspector Leclerc
Anna Massey	...	Ms. Siegel
Peter Maloney	...	Martin

Also Known As:

I love you, je t'aime (France)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:All | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1987) | Finland:K-8 | USA:PG (certificate # 25563) | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Pan Arts

Trivia:

The movies that Daniel and Lauren watch include "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting", both directed by George Roy Hill.

Quotes:

Daniel Michon: Call me Bogie.
Lauren King: Why?
Daniel Michon: Because they belong together.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Girlfriends: A Little Romance (#3.10)" (2002)

A kiss under the Bridge of Sighs

The wonder of Laurence Olivier was his flexibility. From Shakespeare to the light & fluffy he was not too proud and that he enjoyed his profession so is shown in all his last works. This film is one of the latter and it may delight you with its humour and insight. A story set in Paris(sigh) of two adolescents from very different backgrounds and their budding romance in this the city of love. Which raises a good question mr director, why go to Venice when you could have done it all here the most romantic place in the world. But I digress. Lauren(Diane Lane) & Daniel(Thelonius Bernard) are the leads. Two youngsters with very high IQ's, they both read Heidegger & Nitsche for kicks, and who are surrounded by incompetent adults led by Daniel's dad, a parisien taxi driver with questionable ethics and Laurens mum Kay( Sally Kellerman playing a snobbish ex-patriot socialite) who balks at the thought of returning to the states-"goddam Houston".There is also a fine supporting cast of David Dukes playing George, a very avant-garde film director(so he says) and to Kay a potential husband number three, and Arthur Hill playing the kindly stepfather Richard. Broderick Crawford also makes a cameo appearance as himself, sadly one of his last. Olivier makes his entrance as the comical old gentleman with a mysterious past who used to live at the Browning's Villa in Venice and who befriends the two youngsters regaling them with a romantic tale of eternal love which can only be sealed with a kiss in a gondola under the bridge of sighs in Venice.Enough said.

Director Hill directs against type here but imbues his story with some wonderful vignettes. When Daniel's friend Londet sneaks them in to watch a blue movie Laurens reaction is a typically adolescent, morbid curiousity followed by revulsion and then a pert clinical summary.As if to say this aint that kind of a movie folks. Interestingly the two teenage leads found the eventual physical contact an embarrasing experience for all and had to be firmly encouraged by the director.There is a hint of their discomfort on screen but only for a moment. Love conquers all(sigh). Oliviers humourous performance transfixes when he almost gags on his croissant when seeing his criminal identikit photo in the newspaper. Hill also finds time to place excerpts from previous movies into his latest film,but aptly so. Albeit all in a foreign language. I also loved the photography and the landscape, I dont remember Italy being this lovely. The performances by all are very affecting although Lane did go on to bigger though not always better things. Bernard with his gallic good looks and despite passable reviews was never heard from again. Olivier sadly has passed on and will be missed by all for a long time to come.The ending was predictable but touching all the same.It never won any awards but twenty years later it remains one of my firm favourites for love story of the decade.