FACE | The Tournees Festival | LA FEMME DE GILLES

LA FEMME DE GILLES
GILLES' WIFE

Director:
Frédéric Fonteyne

Screenplay:
Philippe Blasband, Frédéric Fonteyne & Marion Hänsel, based on the novel by Madeleine Bourdouxhe

Cast:
Elisa: Emmanuelle Devos
Gilles: Clovis Cornillac
Victorine: Laura Smet

Awards:
Golden Tulip, Istanbul International Film Festival (2005) Best Belgian Director, Joseph Plateau Awards (2005)
Best Actress (Emmanuelle Devos), Mar del Plata Film Festival (2005) CICAE Award, Venice Film Festival (2004)

Running time: 103’
Production: Belgium/France, 2004
Rating: Not Rated
Gauge: 35mm, DVD (color)

Distributor:
The Cinema Guild

“Like the best of legendary ‘poetic realist’ films, but done with more sexual frankness and visual realism, ‘Gilles’ Wife’ mixes naturalism with theatrical grace. What compels the viewer throughout is both the power of the acting … and the beauty of the images.”
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune



Set in the 1930’s, Gilles’ Wife is a haunting tale of passion and sacrifice in a small mining town. The wife of a metal worker and devoted mother, Elisa’s well-ordered world is turned upside down when she begins to suspect her husband Gilles of having an affair with her younger sister Victorine. Determined to save her marriage, Elisa undertakes a strange and disquieting battle to recover what she has lost, in the hopes of regaining once again Gille’s attention. Steeped in rich period details, which recreate the atmosphere of classic French cinema of the 1930’s, the film explores Elisa’s emotional upheaval over the course of a year. Her suspicion grows but she does not confront her husband, and when Gilles breaks down and admits to having an affair, she supports him. Elisa’s determination to win him back leads her to spy on her sister Victorine on his behalf. When she discovers that her sister is falling in love with another man, Elisa’s marriage regains some sense of normalcy until Victorine announces her plans to marry that man. Gilles, who is still infatuated with Victorine, is enraged, wreaking havoc and leading to a desperate outcome. Virginie Saint-Martin’s cinematography involves powerful compositions and Vermeer-like lighting. She deftly captures Elisa’s inner workings.

PHOTO The Cinema Guild

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