Sundays and Cybele (Les dimanches de Ville d’Avray)
Directed by Serge Bourgignon
Written by Serge Bourgignon and Antoine Tudal from a novel by Bernard Eschasseriaux
1962/France/Austria
Fides/Les Films Trocadero/Orsay Films/Terra Film Produktion
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] “If we can forgive what has been done to us . . /. If we can forgive what we’ve done to others . . ./ If we can leave all of our stories behind. Our being villians or victims./ Only then can we maybe rescue the world. ― Chuck Palahniuk, Haunted[/box]
This is a beautifully shot movie but doesn’t really ring my bells.
Pierre (Hardy Krüger) has blocked out the memory of a bombing raid in Indochina that left a young girl dead. His amnesia for the event hasn’t made him any happier. One day, he sees a young girl (maybe 12?) being left off by her father at a convent school. The father promises to visit on Sundays but Pierre witnesses something that lets him know Dad won’t be coming back. So Pierre convinces the nuns he is the father and starts spending each Sunday with Francoise. Their afternoons together are idyllic.
But something about the relationship strikes other adults as creepy. Reality slowly intrudes its ugly head.
I’ve seen this twice now and it didn’t wow me either time. Something about it just drags for me. Your mileage may definitely vary.
Sundays and Cybele won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was nominated in the categories of Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment.
