The Seventh Companion (Russian: Седьмой спутник, translit. Sedmoy Sputnik) is a 1967 black-and-white Soviet film set in St. Petersburg in the years following the Russian Revolution its title is commonly translated as The Seventh Companion. The film marked the directorial debut of Russian director Aleksei German, who co-directed it with Grigori Aronov.
The film is based on a novel by Boris Lavrenyov.
Middle class student Bob Letellier enters a new world when he meets Alain, a free-thinking rebel who, along with his group of young Parisians, has opted for a life of instant gratification instead of work and commitment. At a party, Bob meets a young woman, Mic, who appears to be just as carefree and cynical as Alain. Mic's only dream is to own a luxury car, and with Bob's help, she manages to find the money to but it. Mic's friend Clo discovers she is pregnant and, not knowing who the father is, she asks Bob to marry her. When they next meet at a party, Bob and Mic deny that they have any feelings for one another - a declaration that soon leads to tragedy...
Marcel Carné is widely regarded as one of the standard bearers of French quality cinema of the 1930s and 1940s, responsible for such masterpieces as Quai des brumes (1938) and Les Enfants du Paradis (1945). How ironic then that, in 1958, towards the end of his film-making career, he should make a film which dared to portray the attitudes and behaviour of the 1950s youth, in a way that effectively captures the mood and sentiment of the time.
Les Tricheurs was a hugely controversial film, not least because of its blatant depiction of adolescent free-love, and was even banned in some regions of France. It also received some intensely unfavourable reviews, most notably from the young hotheads on the Cahiers du cinéma such as François Truffaut who cited this film as a prime example of the decline of French cinema into mediocrity. In spite of all this negative press, the film proved to be an astonishing commercial success, attracting five million cinema-goers, and was awarded the Grand Prix du Cinéma français in 1958.
Whilst Les Tricheurs is not as flawless as Carné's earlier masterpieces, it is nonetheless a significant work, having the power to both shock and move its audience, whilst having great entertainment value. It evokes the mood of its time in a way that few French films of this period did, depicting young people as pleasure-seeking rebels, rejecting the austerity and discipline of the previous generation whilst pursuing a life without cares, responsibilities or love. Similarities with James Dean's films of the 1950s (most notably Rebel without a Cause) are apparent, although Carné's treatment of young people is far more abstract - in his film they merely symbolise a world that has lost its way, more or less victims of post-war prosperity. Although the young people in Les Tricheurs lack the authenticity to be totally credible, the film does make an important, and indeed quite disturbing point, about where the permissive society may be heading.
Much of the pleasure of the film is in the performances from its four lead actors, Jacques Charrier, Pascale Petit, Laurent Terzieff and Andréa Parisy, although only Terzieff is really convincing in his role. Marcel Carné originally considered Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo for the parts of Bob and Alain respectively, before opting for Charrier and Terzieff. As a consolation, Carné offered Belmondo a smaller part in the film - alas too small for the actor to be noticed by the public. Belmondo's breakthrough had to wait until the following year when he starred in Jean-Luc Godard's revolutionary A bout de souffle, a film which offers a very different perspective of the youth generation.
侯麦著名系列作品“四季的故事”之一。菲利茜(夏洛特·海瑞 Charlotte Véry饰)和查理(费德瑞克·范丹狄德夏 Frédéric van den Driessche饰)在海边浪漫相恋之后,因为一时不留神留下了写错的地址,而导致了二人再也找不到彼此。菲利茜生下了查理的孩子,但5年来却再也没有查理的音讯。
生活还在继续,菲利茜遇上了喜欢她的一些男子,他们也不失为好男人,足够爱自己。比如成熟体贴的马桑(迈克尔·瓦雷蒂 Michael Voletti饰)和才华横溢的路易(Hervé Furic饰)。然而,在菲利茜的心中,查理却仍旧是个挥之不去的至爱之人。她不是不爱他们,只是无法爱到能和他们一起生活。她和路易一起看莎士比亚的歌剧《冬天的故事》,为里面的人物悄然落泪,也许她和剧中人一样,也在坚守着一个信念。
终于某个冬天,菲利茜和查理竟然在公车上重遇,执着的梦想等来了实现的一天。