Life Is a Long Quiet River
1988 | 1h 30m
Those Two families should never have met
Two babies are switched at birth. When the mistake is discovered 12 years later, it leads to complications in the lives of both families. One family is affluent, with dutiful and (apparently) contented children. The other family is poor, with rambunctious (even delinquent) children, often hungry, but with lots of laughter in the house.
Storyline
Two babies are switched at birth. When the mistake is discovered 12 years later, it leads to complications in the lives of both families. One family is affluent, with dutiful and (apparently) contented children. The other family is poor, with rambunctious (even delinquent) children, often hungry, but with lots of laughter in the house.
Cast & Crew
Étienne Chatiliez
Director
Benoît Magimel
Momo Groseille
Valérie Lalande
Bernadette Le Quesnoy
Catherine Hiegel
Josette
Daniel Gélin
Docteur Mavial
Hélène Vincent
Madame Marielle Le Quesnoy
André Wilms
Monsieur Jean Le Quesnoy
Christine Pignet
Madame Groseille
Maurice Mons
Monsieur Groseille
Catherine Jacob
Marie-Thérèse
Tara Römer
Million Groseille
Patrick Bouchitey
Père Auberger
Recent Reviews
- CCinemaSerf★ 7
There's something of the Mark Twain with this tale of two babies who are rather malevolently switched at birth. It's only in their very early teens that this information becomes known but by then fate has taken quite an hand in their lives. "Momo" (Benoît Magimel) has ended up in a less affluent but broadly speaking quite happy family that rather flies by the seat of it's pants. "Million" (Tara Römer) is at the opposite end of the social scale being brought up in a well-to-do family where conformity and Catholic faith are more important than joy. Both families are large and the comparison drawn here shows that actually having a load more cash eliminates some problems for the "Duquesnois" family but introduces others that are never there for the cash-poor "Grosseilles" who sort of epitomise that philosophy that you don't miss what you've never had. The writing and the efforts from just about everyone on screen here allows us to watch their family shenanigans without ever feeling we are being asked to choose, or to judge with peaks and troughs for and within both groups. There are comedic elements here, but again not in a structured "Hulot" sort of fashion, more like they could occur in real life. Those incidents don't always start off being funny, but like so many realtime scenarios they just end up that way and that helps them to diffuse what can be quite a powerful look at family life - warts and all. Religion is an important feature of this film, and the priest (Patrick Bouchitey) provides quite a bit of food for thought as well as some unlikely comedy fodder that raises smiles whilst also going some way to debunking some of the stuffier images more usually associated with the clergy. It's slightly satirical, and it does beg some questions about nature and nurture that I quite enjoyed.
