Changing Times (film)

Changing Times (Les temps qui changent) is a 2004 Morocco-set drama featuring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu and directed by André Téchiné.

Depardieu plays a construction engineer, Antoine, who goes to Morocco to oversea a new project and catch up with the woman he loved 30 years ago, played by Catherine Deneuve.

Plot
Antoine, a hard-driving engineer, has literally counted the time (31 years 8 months 20 days) since he last saw Cécile (Deneuve). He has spent years tracking down his ex-lover and has even investigated the possibility of using witchcraft to pave the way for a reunion.

Cécile, meanwhile, has married a much younger doctor, Nathan, and hosts a French-Moroccan radio show in Tangier. Antoine arrives in Tangier to oversee construction of a media center. He anonymously sends a bouquet of roses to Cécile at the radio station. The bouquet arrives just as the station broadcasts a song containing the lyrics "we remember nothing." Cécile tosses the roses into the trash without giving them a second thought.

Antoine and Cécile are eventually reunited in a Tangier supermarket. Antoine walks into a door, smashing his nose, and Nathan — who is shopping with Cécile — rushes over to administer first aid.

Meanwhile, Nathan and Cécile's bisexual son Sami has unexpectedly arrived in Tangier, accompanied by his live-in girlfriend Nadia and her 9-year-old son Said. Nadia hopes to reconnect with her twin sister Aica, a man-hating observant Muslim who works in a Tangier McDonald's.

Nadia has an addiction to tranquilizers, though, and Sami often leaves a sedated Nadia to engage in trysts with his Moroccan boyfriend Bilal.

Quotes
Bilal (addressing Sami): "You're too indecisive, but I guess that's normal. You're half Moroccan, half French, half man, half woman. It must be difficult knowing who you are."

Cast

 * Catherine Deneuve — Cécile
 * Gérard Depardieu — Antoine
 * Gilbert Melki — Nathan
 * Malik Zidi — Sami
 * Lubna Azabal — Nadia/Aicha
 * Nadem Rachati — Bilal
 * Tanya Lopert — Rachel

References & External Links

 * Holden, Stephen. (2006, July 14). A Decades-Long Love, Reunited But Unrequited. The New York Times, p. B8
 * Amazon