Sundays and Cybele ( Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray ) ( Cyb le ou les dimanches de ville d'Avray ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Italy ]

This was the very first foreign movie that I saw; the very first one with subtitles. It was the summer of 1963. I was 16. Just got my driver’s license; borrowed the family car and drove over to the part of Pittsburgh where the “art theaters” were. Had a “date.” Knew absolutely nothing about the movie. Vietnam was an impossibly remote place and had something to do with Communism. For half a century, and another half decade thereafter, the opening scene has been indelibly impressed on my brain. A French fighter pilot, coming in low over a Vietnamese village, inexplicably wearing an oxygen mask, is shot down. As he is crashing, the last thing he sees is a young Vietnamese girl who is directly before him.The fighter pilot, Pierre, well played by Hardy Kruger, has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). That term had not yet been formulated by the psychiatrist, Dr. Robert J. Lifton. The condition, however, affected survivors of earlier wars, and went by various expressions such as “the thousand yard stare,” “shellshock,” as well as others. In the movie, Pierre has amnesia. He remembers nothing of his past, including his military service. And he acts a bit “weird,” a non-clinical term that applies to a lot of other people. The nurse, Madeleine (Nicole Courcel) who cared for him in the hospital has become his lover, an all-too-familiar trajectory. She is confident that with her TLC he will “snap out of it.” Madeleine provides a key comment that pushes PTSD to center-court: “When I was first caring from him in the hospital, he asked – in English – ‘Did I kill her?’”But Madeleine has a rival, a most difficult situation for a woman to understand: a 12-year old girl, Françoise (Patricia Gozzi). Her father had just abandoned her to a convent. She is seeking her own salvation, and I do believe that a girl, under those circumstances, can be “precocious.” Pierre pretends to be her father, in order to take her out of the convent every Sunday. She has it all figured out: “You are 30 now, I am 12; you’ll only be 36 when I am 18, and then we will be married.” In the movie they are portrayed as having a chaste relationship; she will ultimately give him a supreme present – telling him what her real name is: Cybèle. She explains that it is an ancient name, for the goddess of the trees and the earth. And as she says, it is pronounced “Si belle,” (so beautiful).‘Lo these past 55 years I’ve really wanted to see this movie again, so much so, that since it is not available on the various internet streaming services, I decided to pop for the 18 bucks for a CD copy, that I will probably never watch again. I did remember so much of the movie correctly, particularly that opening scene. But now I have a troubling dilemma, one that was virtually not a consideration when I was 16: pedophilia. Yes, in the movie, Pierre and Cybèle will get some strange looks; Madeleine is deeply ambivalent about her rival, but knows he is injured. The sculpture, Carlos, is the most understanding, summing it up thusly, with a shrug: “He is no more than a child himself.”Accompanying the CD is a seven page essay by Ginette Vincendeau entitled “Innocent Love?” In part, she says the following: “While ‘pedophilia’ is never explicitly referred to in “Sundays and Cybèle,” to the spectator of today, it is a constant subtext, present throughout the film in a manner that is both pervasive and oblique. Part of this ambiguity comes from our different awareness of the issue today, and part from the process of adaption.” Also, I learned that the movie is based on the novel “Les Dimanches de Ville d’Avray” by Bernard Eschasseriaux. (Avray is 12 km from the center of Paris, west, in the Boulogne- Billancourt prefecture). I also learned that there was an “acrimonious exchange in the press” between, Eschasseriaux and the film’s director, Serge Bourguignon. In part, the issue was Bourguigon’s deletion of Pierre’s murky and criminal past. Hum.Thus, if the war can be blamed for Pierre’s actions, then the invariable spin is that the plot evolved in an understandable but tragic manner. Pierre, through no fault of his own, is “damaged goods.” But if there is no war to blame, then one is observing the true heart of darkness, evil incarnate. As much as I don’t want to, I feel compelled to read Eschasseriaux’s book, and contemplate this new twist. In neither the movie, nor in Vincendeau’s essay, is the word “Vietnam” mentioned. In one of the classic American post-Vietnam War movies, “Coming Home,” starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight, at the end there is a grocery store called “Easy.” The movie ends with a standard Vietnam War movie denouement: suicide. In walking out of the grocery store at the end, the camera lingers on the signs on the door: “Easy Out.” Blame the war. 5-stars for Cybèle and the excellent acting, in particular, of Patricia Gozzi.

Postponing a discussion of the direction, acting, and cinematography, I will begin by noting that this film deserves high praise first for its forthright raising questions about human relationships that most of us prefer to suppress, ignore, or simply answer with unthinking righteousness. I don't believe such a movie could be made, or at least distributed, in our present-day world, that takes pride in its tolerance and celebration of diversity while thoughtlessly condemning certain kinds of relationships as depraved. Among more recent films, only "Doubt", perhaps, dares to broach some of the themes addressed, and addressed with sensitivity, charm, and boldness, in "Dimanches", but the former does so gingerly, glancing off from its target lest the viewer become too uncomfortable when confronted with the requirement to ponder--rather than judge--human needs we prefer not to confront. "Dimanches" does not flinch.If "Dimanches" is unknown to you, you will want to be told that it is a tale of a close relationship between a man of thirty, a man with serious emotional impairment, and a girl of twelve, an abandoned, lonely girl possessing nothing but a vivid imagination to sustain her. One flash of genius is setting the action in Avray, best known for a benign and soothing Corot painting of its pond; the pond figures prominently and ironically in the film. Another is the progression, also ironic, of the action to its climax at midnight on Christmas Eve. Don't expect joy, brotherhood, and goodwill to emanate; this is not a "feel-good" movie, to put it mildly. A third is the somber musical accompaniment, including the inspired selection of the "Miserere nobis" from Charpentier's "Messe de Minuit pour Noël". ("Dimanches" received only a nomination for best score in the 1962 Oscars; it did, however, win in the "best foreign film" category.)In a new century when dazzling technical virtuosity dominates the art of cinematography, the simpler modes of expression of a movie now half a century old may require adjusting one's expectations. Most appropriately filmed in black and white, some of the novelties in "Dimanches" may seem old-hat to young viewers. This DVD rendering could certainly have been better, but it is, I believe, the only one available with English subtitles.Bourgignon's direction is faultless, but what will linger longest with a viewer is the superb acting of the principal roles, most especially Patricia Gozzi's challenging evocation of the aspirations and emotions of a distressed child about to become a woman. French film has given us a number of fine performances by child actors, but none that has surpassed Ms. Gozzi's in "Dimanches".If you have never seen "Dimanches" and still need convincing, perhaps the excellent review in the New York Times will win you over. Just Google "Bosley Crowther" and "Sundays and Cybele" to read it.

Somewhere along the way, I had gotten the impression that "Sundays and Cybele" was one of those great "feel good" movies. The two or three different stills I had seen over the years showed me two people lovingly enjoying being with each other. I knew from those same pictures that the movie focussed on a man and a young girl. As the film began, I soon became aware that the two main characters had each been damaged through different means. The relationship that grew between them was indeed, quite impressive and certainly worthy of this movie. My challenge was to appreciate the impressive way that we were made to know the extent of the man's disability. It became difficult to watch the man in his inability to comprehend and cope with his limitations. However, I realized that the relationship that was portrayed in "Sundays and Cybele" was able to transcend the standard movie fare because of the man's severe dysfunction.The VHS copy of this movie was rather dark which probably helped to enhance the film's impact. There was enough light to obscure a number of the English subtitles. I may have missed an important piece of dialogue here and there because I was unclear about the ending of the movie. It may have been clear to others but my impression was that there were two possible explanations to the outcome of the movie; one innocent, one brutal. I believe that the movie was as coarse as it was to keep us uncertain of the ending. Many may likely chose the one that is more comforting while secretly worrying that it may actually have been the opposite. I guess waiting for a happy ending almost made me miss a better movie.

product as described, thank you

This is such a heart warming and heart-wrenching story. A beautiful relationship between a war vet with memory loss and a young girl who's been left at an orphanage. These 2 are meeting needs for each other without understanding from anyone else. The ending calls for tissues0!

純粋で美しい魂

En la versión original francesa se titula "Les dimanches de Ville d'Abray". La culpa, el deseo de redención, la ambigüedad de los sentimientos entre un joven piloto que se recupera de su accidente y del mal involuntariamente causado, y una niña abandonada en un asilo. Filmada en ese gris de la posguerra francesa, con gran economía de medios, fue una película que causó escándalo en su momento por entenderse -indebidamente-. Es una tragedia, un canto a la inocencia de los sentimientos y una crítica a los malos pensamientos infundados.

"Sundays and Cybele" holds up even after nearly 50 years. I remember seeing it as a very young man and it lodged in my memory as a very touching and moving story of two damaged souls discovering life and love together. Still controversial after all these years, it tells of the older pilot traumatized from bombing an innocent girl in a Vietnamese war and in another time, another place, of a young girl unloved and abandoned by parents and dropped off in a convent in a small French provincial town. Their worlds are shattered. They cling to what it means to be alive and loved. These two strangers come together. They talk. They play. They take meandering walks along a pond, a river. They help to open up each other's feelings of joy and happiness. It is love and light. But perceptions are reality and those around these innocent victims perceive a dark and treacherous motivation in the pilot. They conspire to save the girl, which leads to the inexorable tragic climax. Interesting to revisit the film that was never forgotten, a memory of a haunting, lyrical and tragic story of love, loss, innocence and betrayal. It was as vivid and engrossing now as it was 50 years ago, only the styles have changed.It left me thinking what it might be like to have an American remake, possibly Brad Pitt playing the Hardy Kruger role, reshaping the black and white images into the light and dark shadows of color. But the original "Sundays and Cybele" will always remain a classic.

This is a marvellous movie of a young girl and a traumatised man that more or less fall in love, though there is no sex of course and it is a very innocent relationship. It is a film about two inadequate people who need one another's inadequacies in order to fulfil themselves, which says a lot about many relationships between couples. The actress who plays the girl, Patricia Gozzi, is quite extraordinarily good; and the film is rich with the vanished seediness of France in the late 1950s. Few films have impressed me as much as this one. Curiously the gurus whom I follow - Halliwell, BBC Radio Times Film Guide, Shipman's Guide, Thompson, Variety - either ignore or slate this masterpiece. Only Maltin gives it its due. Histories of the French cinema (I have consulted Lanzoni and Armes) also ignore the wonder that is this movie.Patricia Gozzi was I suppose 11 or 12 in this film, and you should follow it up by seeing Rapture, made when she was 15. Unfortunately this prodigy made very few films. An enormous talent lost to the screen and to our culture.