Name: Le huitième jour
Genre: Drama
Released: 1960-02-24
Duration: 1 h 18 min
Rating: 6.5
Cast: Emmanuelle Riva, Félix Marten, José Varela

(Not to be mistaken for Jaco Van Dormael's eponymous award-winning movie (1996) starring Daniel Auteuil)

Marcel Hanoun has never taken the easy way .His more accessible work ,"Une Simple Histoire" ,a MTV effort -which was released in the theaters as well- told the story of a poor woman ,lost in Paris with her daughter,in a very austere way,without any touch of melodrama .

The same goes for "Le Huitième Jour" :the newspaper which could have led the movie into melodrama territory is only a way to help the heroine make up her mind.

The key to the movie is in Chartres where Françoise visits her folks ;after a walk with her mom (a cast against type Lucienne Bogaert) in a bleak street of a provincial town,Françoise takes one of her dolls out of her wardrobe ,put it on the windowsill and says "look" to the toy.

Françoise is an introverted lonely woman, a little self-centered and even selfish employee nearing thirty (Hanoun uses much voice over to depict her frames of mind).During the week ,she lives a monotonous life ,in spite of her neighbor's efforts ,a widower,to overcome her firm independence of men .The eighth day is Sunday :she opens up ,she's beaming ,in the only sequence filmed in color .

The neighbor's kid brother is a tad infuriating (and his scenes are closer to what we call "conventional"cinema) but it helps FRançoise to find her way to love in her too well-organized rigid world.

Without a great actress,I must confess the movie might sometimes have bored me ;but Emmanuelle Riva is not just anybody : perhaps the most gifted thespian of her generation, she's got a quivering sensitivity who triumphed in Resnais's and Franju's works.

French-language cinema, whether in France, Québec, or other Francophone regions, explores cultural identity, social change, and the tension between the individual and society. French cinema is not only celebrated for its intellectual experimentation and auteur traditions, but also its success in mainstream comedy, romance, and commercial entertainment. In Québec, films often focus on questions of language, belonging, and community within a distinct cultural landscape.

Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows (1959)

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)

Françoise, a thirty-year-old single typist lives only for her Sunday release. On this day, she attends a horse race under pretext of perfecting her taste for elegance and refinement. Georges, a neighbor widower, begins to court her.

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Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne in The Eighth Day (1996)

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Le huitième jour

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