Tumultes (1990)
Directed by Bertrand Van Effenterre

Film Review

One of the more impressive of the handful of films that Bertrand Van Effenterre made for the cinema before he 'defected' to television in the early 1990s is this intense drama offering a harrowingly true-to-life account of loss and bereavement in a Breton family. Bruno Cremer is well-suited to take the lead role in this sombre drama. The following year, the actor would assume his most famous role as the legendary detective Jules Maigret in a long-running television series for French television, two episodes of which would be directed by Van Effenterre. Tumultes is a modest film that tells a simple story but it is charged with pent-up emotion and is intensely involving. Its main failing is that it does at times tend to resemble a made-for-television movie. Van Effenterre's direction improves on the fairly mundane script, helped by some strong performances from a talented cast. The film's main asset is Yves Angelo's heart-achingly beautiful photography of the Brittany setting, which brings a raw bleakness and poetry to the drama. Van Effenterre's other films are somewhat less impressive, although there is some fun to be had in his quirky crime comedy Tout pour l'oseille (2004) starring Sylvie Testud, Bruno Putzulu and Laurent Lucas.

Film Synopsis

Three sisters are reunited with their parents at their home on the Brittany coast.  Their brother Patrick has died tragically and they must somehow come to terms with the loss.  Anne, the eldest of the three girls, fights to hold back her own emotions as she comforts her younger sisters.  Isabelle, the most rebellious of the sisters, hasn't been near the family home for eight years, and is filled with resentment after what life has done to her.  The youngest sister, Claude, is the twin of the dead adolescent, and so her loss is greatest.  Whilst the sisters share their grief, their father withdraws into silent meditation, leaving their mother to slip further into ill health and insanity.  Then the circumstances of Patrick's death are revealed...