Le Grand Chemin [The Grand Highway] **** (1987, Anémone, Richard Bohringer, Antoine Hubert, Vanessa Guedj, Christine Pascal, Pascale Roberts) – Classic Movie Review 12,701

Jean-Loup Hubert’s superb 1987 French film Le Grand Chemin [The Grand Highway] stars Richard Bohringer and Anémone, who won the César Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress.

Writer/ director Jean-Loup Hubert’s superb 1987 French film Le Grand Chemin [The Grand Highway] stars Richard Bohringer and Anémone, who won the César Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress. It also stars Antoine Hubert, Vanessa Guedj, Pascale Roberts, and Christine Pascal.

In the late 1950s a Paris mother Claire (Pascal), who is having a baby, sends her little son, timid nine-year-old boy Louis (Hubert), to the country to stay for a summer holiday in a small town in Brittany with her old chum Marcelle (Anémone) and her husband Pelo  (Bohringer). The kid, unhappy at first, soon adapts to country life through the kindness of his stand-in parents and the next door neighbour’s ten-year-old daughter Martine (Guedj).

Le Grand Chemin [The Grand Highway] is a beautiful look at childhood and the pangs of growing, simply and movingly told, with superb acting, especially by Anémone, and haunting atmosphere. It is by far Jean-Loup Hubert’s biggest success.

It is remade in America as Paradise (1991) with Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson and Elijah Wood.

Anémone won the César Award for Best Actress for Le Grand Chemin [The Grand Highway] (1987). Her real name was Anne Bourguignon (August 1950 – 30 April 2019) but she took her stage name in 1968 from her character’s title name in her film debut in Anémone, directed by Philippe Garrel. She was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for Death in a French Garden, She won the one César Award out of five nominations.

French actor Richard Bohringer was born 16 January 1942.

Also in the cast are Raoul Billerey, Marie Matheron, Daniel Rialet, Jean-François Dérec, Thierry Flamand, and André Lacombe.

The film runs 104 minutes. It was released in the US as The Grand Highway with English subtitles.

Le grand chemin is directed by Jean-Loup Hubert, runs 104 minutes, is made by Flach Film, Séléna Audiovisuel and TF1 Films, is released by Acteurs Auteurs Associés (France 1987), Miramax (US 1988) and Warner Bros (UK 1989), is written by Jean-Loup Hubert, based on the novel by Jean-Loup Hubert, is shot by Claude Lecomte, is produced by Pascal Hommais and Jean Francois Lepetit, and is scored by Georges Granier.

The cast are Richard Bohringer as Pelo, Anémone as Marcelle, Antoine Hubert as Louis, Christine Pascal as Claire, Pascale Roberts as Yvonne, Vanessa Guedj as Martine, Raoul Billerey, Marie Matheron, Daniel Rialet, Jean-François Dérec, Thierry Flamand, and André Lacombe.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,701

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