# The Things of Life
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Things_of_Life
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Things_of_Life.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Things_of_Life
> Source revision: 1341476867
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Infobox film
| name = The Things of Life
| image = The Things of Life FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| native_name = {{Infobox name module|fr|Les Choses de la vie}}
| director = [Claude Sautet](/source/Claude_Sautet)
| screenplay = {{ubl|[Paul Guimard](/source/Paul_Guimard)|[Jean-Loup Dabadie](/source/Jean-Loup_Dabadie)|Claude Sautet}}
{{Infobox|decat=yes|child=yes|label1=Dialogue by|data1=Jean-Loup Dabadie}}
| based_on = {{based on|''[Intersection](/source/Intersection_(novel))''|Paul Guimard}}
| producer = [Raymond Danon](/source/Raymond_Danon)
| starring = {{ubl|[Michel Piccoli](/source/Michel_Piccoli)|[Romy Schneider](/source/Romy_Schneider)}}
| cinematography = [Jean Boffety](/source/Jean_Boffety)
| editing = [Jacqueline Thiédot](/source/Jacqueline_Thi%C3%A9dot)
| music = [Philippe Sarde](/source/Philippe_Sarde)
| studio = {{ubl|Lira Films|Sonocam S.A.|Fida Cinematografica}}
| distributor = {{ubl|{{abbr|CFDC|Compagnie Française de Distribution Cinématographique}} (France)|Fida Cinematografica (Italy)}}
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|1970|3|13|France|1970|4|18|Italy}}
| runtime = 89 minutes
| country = {{ubl|France|Italy|Switzerland[{{cite web|url=https://cineuropa.org/en/film/401159/|title=Les choses de la vie|website=Cineuropa|access-date=28 January 2022}}]}}
| language = French
| budget =
}}
'''''The Things of Life''''' ({{langx|fr|'''Les Choses de la vie'''}}) is a 1970 [romantic](/source/Romance_film) [drama](/source/Drama_(film_and_television)) film directed by [Claude Sautet](/source/Claude_Sautet), based on the 1967 novel ''[Intersection](/source/Intersection_(novel))'' by [Paul Guimard](/source/Paul_Guimard). The film centers around a car accident experienced by Pierre ([Michel Piccoli](/source/Michel_Piccoli)), an architect, and the events before and after it.[{{cite news|last=Lane|first=Anthony|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/04/20/backstory-3|title=Backstory|work=The New Yorker|date=20 April 2009|access-date=22 May 2020}}] The film won the [Louis Delluc Prize](/source/Louis_Delluc_Prize), and had 2,959,682 admissions in France, becoming the eighth highest-earning film of the year.[{{Cite web|url=http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=8905|title=Les Choses de la vie (1970)|website=JPBox-Office|access-date=2019-09-04}}]
== Plot ==
The structure of the film involves frequent jumps in time—between the time of, and after, the car crash, and before the crash. The opening sequence jumps between the period immediately after the crash, and the crash itself.
In the French countryside on a summer morning, a lorry full of pigs stalls at a crossroads. An [Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint](/source/Alfa_Romeo_Giulietta_(750%2F101)) swerves to avoid it and crashes into an orchard, hurling the driver, Pierre ([Michel Piccoli](/source/Michel_Piccoli)), onto the grass. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, he revisits the essential things which make up his life.
A [Paris](/source/Paris) architect in his forties driving to a meeting at [Rennes](/source/Rennes), Pierre had quarreled with his lover Hélène ([Romy Schneider](/source/Romy_Schneider)) the previous night. They were due to leave together for a job he was offered in [Tunis](/source/Tunis) but he hadn't signed the documents. But he had agreed to take his teenage son Bertrand, who lived with his estranged wife Catherine, for a holiday in the family's holiday home on the [Île de Ré](/source/%C3%8Ele_de_R%C3%A9). Stopping at a café, he wrote to Hélène calling everything off, but did not post the letter. Driving past a wedding, he decides that the letter was quite wrong and he should marry Hélène.
Rushed to hospital in [Le Mans](/source/Le_Mans), he does not recover. As his widow, Catherine is given his effects, including the unsent letter to Hélène. Catherine is reading it by the window when she sees Hélène running to reach Pierre's bedside. She tears the letter to pieces, and Hélène is told by a nurse that she is too late.
==Cast==
* [Michel Piccoli](/source/Michel_Piccoli) as Pierre Bérard
* [Romy Schneider](/source/Romy_Schneider) as Hélène Haltig
* Gérard Lartigau as Bertrand Bérard
* [Lea Massari](/source/Lea_Massari) as Catherine Bérard
* [Jean Bouise](/source/Jean_Bouise) as François
* [Boby Lapointe](/source/Boby_Lapointe) as driver of the animal van
* Hervé Sand as truckdriver
* [Isabelle Sadoyan](/source/Isabelle_Sadoyan) as nurse
* Jacques Richard as ambulance nurse
* [Betty Beckers](/source/Betty_Beckers) as female hitchhiker
* [Dominique Zardi](/source/Dominique_Zardi) as male hitchhiker
* Gabrielle Doulcet as Guitte
* [Henri Nassiet](/source/Henri_Nassiet) as Pierre's father
* [Claude Confortès](/source/Claude_Confort%C3%A8s) as doctor
* [Marie-Pierre Casey](/source/Marie-Pierre_Casey) as postal worker
* [Marcelle Arnold](/source/Marcelle_Arnold) as Hélène's mother
* [Jean-Pierre Zola](/source/Jean-Pierre_Zola) as Hélène's father
==Production==
The idea of making a film from [Paul Guimard](/source/Paul_Guimard)'s novel was originally turned down by multiple financiers in France. It was the fourth feature directed by Claude Sautet, and his first to become a major success. Sautet would work with actress Romy Schneider again on further projects, including Sautet's next feature ''[Max and the Junkmen](/source/Max_et_les_ferrailleurs)''. Sautet also hired composer [Philippe Sarde](/source/Philippe_Sarde) to write the score. That initiated a long partnership between the two, spanning twenty-five years and eleven films.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/philippe-sarde-mn0000292548/biography|title=Philippe Sarde {{!}} Biography|last=German|first=Yuri|website=AllMusic|access-date=2019-09-05}}] The car crash scene was shot on a crossroads specifically created for the purpose, and took two weeks to shoot.
==Release and reception==
The film was released by Compagnie Française de Distribution Cinématographique in France and [Columbia Pictures](/source/Columbia_Pictures) in the United States.
''[Variety](/source/Variety_(magazine))'' said that "directorial tact and visual solidity, fine, sensitive playing and observant characterization give an engrossing tang to this familiar tale", and added that the film "builds interest without resort to flashy sentiments or intellectual palaver."[{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/1969/film/reviews/les-choses-de-la-vie-1200422187/|title=Les Choses de la Vie|date=1 January 1970|work=Variety|access-date=4 September 2019}}] ''[Time Out](/source/Time_Out_(magazine))'' remarked that while it's "difficult to make a film about banality without being boring in the process, but Sautet all but pulls it off, thanks to a beautifully understated performance from Piccoli."[{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/les-choses-de-la-vie|title=Les Choses de la Vie 1969 Film review|website=Time Out London|access-date=4 September 2019}}] ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'' reviewer was more critical, saying, "I should mind this syrup less if Sautet showed more of a conscience in serving it—if the relationships seemed to have been felt rather than merely displayed" but added "Piccoli is the only reasonable point of interest" in the film.[{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/01/archives/film-the-things-of-lifesautet-presents-a-man-many-would-envy.html|title=Film: 'The Things of Life':Sautet Presents a Man Many Would Envy|last=Greenspun|first=Roger|date=1 September 1970|work=The New York Times|access-date=4 September 2019|issn=0362-4331}}]
The film won the 1969 [Louis Delluc Prize](/source/Louis_Delluc_Prize), and had 2,959,682 admissions in France, making it the eighth highest earning film of 1970.