Histoire D'adrien = Story of Adrien

Adrien, an illegitimate child, must endure the nastiness of those around him. Only his grandmother gives him love and understanding. After her death, the young boy finds a job as a flour-mill worker. Adrien witnesses the changes in country life as machines take on the jobs of several men. Adrien grows up and becomes a railway worker and falls in love with a laundress, Marguerite. But her parents to do not look favourably on their daughter marrying a poor man. In order to evoke the memory of country life in the South of France at the turn of the 20th Century, Jean-Pierre Denis delved into the collective memory of actors and locals who spoke exclusively in Occitan. This gave a great authenticity to the depiction (or painting, as certain scenes are filmed to resemble works by Georges de la Tour) of rural life and contributed to ascertain that an original, local culture had survived successive waves of modernisation and mechanisation. In parallel, the film shows the first sketches of an other world: the world of factory workers with its struggles, strikes and energy. Awards: Cannes Film Festival 1980: Camera D’Or for Debut Feature Film.

Credits: Director, Jean-Pierre Denis ; writers, Francoise Dudognon, Jean-Pierre Denis ; photography, Denis Gheerbrant ; music, Joan Pao Verdier.
Cast: Bertrand Sautereau, Serge Dominique, Pierre Dieuaide, Marcelle Dessales, Odette Peytoureau.