A professor/psychiatrist (Jean-Pierre Marielle)in his late middle ages and suffering from health problems meets and falls for a strange young woman (Emmanuelle Seigner)whose life ambition seems to be become a nude dancer in a strange sideshow of a traveling carnival. So he drops everything and goes on the road with her and the carnival. This isn't really much of a plot perhaps, but this is one of those European movies that really relies more on dream sequences, flights into fantasy, and poetic visuals than any kind of coherent story-line.
It also features three interesting French talents. Director Claude Miller was a long-time associate of Francois Truffaut, who well into the new millennium was still making FRENCH movies as opposed French versions of Hollywood fare like you're more likely to see today. Jean-Pierre Marielle is one of those French actors who looks vaguely familiar, perhaps because he's just had such a long career even if he's never really achieved much fame outside of France. One of his earliest films was another tale of older man-younger woman amour fou called "One Wild Moment", which was remade in America as "Blame It on Rio" with Michael Caine in Marielle's role. And speaking of older men and younger women Emmanuelle Seigner is the young woman who bewitched rakish director Roman Polanski when she was only 17, and he's been married to her ever since. This movie was right after her incredible performance in Polanski's "Bitter Moon" and--while it's perhaps not saying a lot--this is one of her best performances in a non-Polanski film.
Naturally this film has no English subs, but it's fairly easy to follow even if you don't really speak French (besides, there's always the international language of a hot French girl getting naked). It's worth checking out if you get a chance.
