In A Sunday in the Country, an elderly French impressionist painter who spends a summer day with his adult children and their offspring at his country house. During the course of the day, the painter comes to grips with his children, who never really fulfill his ideals. This leisurely-paced, beautifully photographed character study may move a little slow for some tastes, yet it is a gorgeous and moving tale.
This celebrated French film explores family dynamics in a clan on the eve of World War I. Monsieur Ladmiral (Louis Ducreux) is an elderly, widowed painter who lives on a rambling estate outside Paris. During a visit from his son, Gonzague (Michel Aumont), Ladmiral hints that Gonzague is too complacent in life and wishes that his son was more like his free-spirited daughter Irene (Sabine Azéma). Ladmiral wants to be freer, too. When Irene joins them, tensions among the family members rise.
“A Sunday in the Country has a haunting, sweet, sad quality. It is about this family, and many families. It is told by Tavernier with great attention to detail, and the details add up to the way life is. To see Tavernier’s work is to feel closer to life… a graceful and delicate story about the hidden currents in a family.” – Roger Ebert
The story takes place during a Sunday in the late summer of 1912.
Starring Sabine Azema, Michel Aumont, Genevieve Mnich, Monique Chaumette, Louis Ducreux.
In French with English subtitles.
Rated G