Élisa (1995 film)

Élisa
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJean Becker
Written byJean Becker
Fabrice Carazo
Produced byHenri Brichetti
Christian Fechner
StarringVanessa Paradis
Gérard Depardieu
CinematographyÉtienne Becker
Edited byJacques Witta
Music byMichel Colombier
Serge Gainsbourg
Zbigniew Preisner
Production
company
Distributed byGaumont Buena Vista International
Release date
  • 1 February 1995 (1995-02-01)
Running time
115 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget$11.1 million
Box office$18.5 million[1]

Élisa is a 1995 French drama film directed by Jean Becker and starring Vanessa Paradis, Gérard Depardieu, Clotilde Courau, Firmine Richard and Florence Thomassin. It was released by Gaumont through Gaumont Buena Vista International in France on 1 February 1995.

Plot

Marie is a teenage girl living a life of crime with her friends on the streets of Paris. Her mother, Élisa, suffering from poverty and abandoned by her husband and estranged from her parents, had tried to kill her when she was very young and later committed suicide. Her father has never been a part of her life. One day, Marie decides to find him and take revenge for not helping her as a child. However, when she finds him, she realizes she cannot kill him. A flashback reveals that he had left her mother because she had prostituted herself to support the family. After discovering a love letter her father had written to her mother, Marie forgives him.

Cast

Themes

The film features the song Elisa by Serge Gainsbourg, to whom the film is posthumously dedicated. The song tells about the love of a man in his forties for a girl in her twenties, alluding to Marie and her father Jacques.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Elisa (1995) - JPBox-Office".
  2. ^ Joan Dupont (February 10, 1995). "The Movie Guide: Elisa". The New York Times Company. Retrieved April 25, 2023.


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