A Sunday in the Country( 1984)

TV-MADramaFamily

70%

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Bertrand Tavernier's magnificent portrait of French family life on the brink of World War I

Overview

In France, before WWI. As every Sunday, an old painter living in the country is visited by his son Gonzague, coming with his wife and his three children. Then his daugther Irene arrives. She is always in a hurry, she lives alone and does not come so often... An intimist chronicle in which what is not shown, what is guessed, is more important than how it looks, dealing with what each character expects of life.

Top Billed Cast

Sabine Azéma
Iréne
Louis Ducreux
Monsieur Ladmiral
Michel Aumont
Gonzague
Monique Chaumette
Mercedes
Geneviève Mnich
Marie-Thérèse
Thomas Duval
Emile
Quentin Ogier
Lucien
Katia Wostrikoff
Mireille
Claude Winter
Madame Ladmiral
Jean-Roger Milo
le pêcheur
Pascale Vignal
la serveuse
Valentine Suard
une petite fille
Erika Faivre
une petite fille
Marc Perrone
l'accordéoniste
Bertrand Tavernier
Le narrateur

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A review by CinemaSerf

Written by CinemaSerf on Sun Oct 19 2025

Did you know that is was Canius Fanius who forbade the rearing of chickens on the streets of ancient Rome? That’s what you learn from a weekly lunch with your ageing father/grandfather and what “Msr. Ladmiral” (Louis Decreux) imparts to his visiting son “Gonzague” (Michel Aumont) who is visiting for Sunday lunch with his wife “Mercédès” (Monique Chaumette) and three children. Although they all get on fine, I think for the family travelling from Paris this has become a bit of a chore - but he is a jolly old painter who adores his three grandchildren. On this particular weekend, an unexpected whi...