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When the Sea Rises

Original title: Quand la mer monte...
  • 2004
  • 1h 29m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
749
YOUR RATING
When the Sea Rises (2004)
ComedyDramaRomance

Irene is on tour with her one-woman-show "Sale Affaire" in the north of France. When she runs into Dries, who carries giants in fairs, it's the beginning of a love story that bears an uncann... Read allIrene is on tour with her one-woman-show "Sale Affaire" in the north of France. When she runs into Dries, who carries giants in fairs, it's the beginning of a love story that bears an uncanny resemblance to the show performed by Irene on stage.Irene is on tour with her one-woman-show "Sale Affaire" in the north of France. When she runs into Dries, who carries giants in fairs, it's the beginning of a love story that bears an uncanny resemblance to the show performed by Irene on stage.

  • Directors
    • Yolande Moreau
    • Gilles Porte
  • Writers
    • Yolande Moreau
    • Gilles Porte
  • Stars
    • Yolande Moreau
    • Wim Willaert
    • Olivier Gourmet
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    749
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Yolande Moreau
      • Gilles Porte
    • Writers
      • Yolande Moreau
      • Gilles Porte
    • Stars
      • Yolande Moreau
      • Wim Willaert
      • Olivier Gourmet
    • 12User reviews
    • 22Critic reviews
    • 62Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 6 wins & 3 nominations total

    Photos2

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    View Poster

    Top cast39

    Edit
    Yolande Moreau
    Yolande Moreau
    • Irène
    Wim Willaert
    Wim Willaert
    • Dries
    Olivier Gourmet
    Olivier Gourmet
    • Le policier
    Jackie Berroyer
    • Le journaliste Béthune
    Philippe Duquesne
    Philippe Duquesne
    • Le patron du café des géants
    Jacques Bonnaffé
    Jacques Bonnaffé
    • Le serveur de bord de mer
    Séverine Caneele
    Séverine Caneele
    • La femme de chambre
    Bouli Lanners
    Bouli Lanners
    • Le patron du marché
    Catherine Routier
    • Femme du bord de la route 1
    Martine Delanoy
    • Femme du bord de la route 2
    Thérèse Flouquet
    • Femme du bord de la route 3
    Jan Hammenecker
    • Jan
    Vincent Mahieu
    • Yves
    Jean-Marie Hardeman
    • Le pilier de bar
    Nand Buyl
    Nand Buyl
    • Le père de Dries
    Tily
    • Le patron du café des Sports
    Isabelle Korber
    • La caissière du Palace
    Cyril Lecomte
    • L'homme du théâtre
    • Directors
      • Yolande Moreau
      • Gilles Porte
    • Writers
      • Yolande Moreau
      • Gilles Porte
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews12

    6.7749
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    Featured reviews

    9s_bourbouse

    A very sweet small budget movie

    That movie is very sweet. At first, you can't help asking yourself what kind of asylum you've been to, but quickly the story takes you and you live the story with the characters.

    The movie is about the loneliness of artists on tour, the kindness and simplicity of people from the North of France and last but not least, it is a nice love story between ordinary people.

    Yolande moreau is famous in France thanks to Les Deschiens a TV program. For her first direction (actually co-direction), she chooses the perfect story. As an actress, she is also marvelous.

    Go and see it if you can, that's worth being seen.
    6johno-21

    This tide offers a strange ride

    I saw this at the 2005 Palm Springs International Film Festival. This is an unlikely, surreal story of Irène and Dries. Yolande Moreau co-wrote and co-directed this film with first-time Director Gilles Porte and she turns in an excellent acting job here. Irène is a middle-aged woman who has a one-woman comedy show where she dresses in a striped shapeless house dress and wears a pointed nose mask and has bloodstained arms. Her show might theoretically play well in France but to an American audience it's pretty bizarre. Like some kind of early 19th century minstrel performer. Dries, as played by Wim Willaert, gets such a kick out of her show and ultimately her that he goes to every performance she gives. He has an equally bizarre job in that he is a porter of carnival giants. Giant wickerwork and paper-maché effigies of people that are carried about in festivals in some areas of France, Belgium and Germany. The younger good looking Dries and the older dowdy Irène end up in an unlikely romance. This is a strange film but intriguing and displays a visual artistry that is far beyond it's low budget. I would rate this a 6.0 but recommend seeing it just to experience something different.
    7FilmCriticLalitRao

    French actress Yolande Moreau has woven a charming romantic tale featuring common people.

    In French cinema,Yolande Moreau and Josiane Balasko share a very special status.They are an integral part of a rare breed of talented actresses who have also taken up film direction to broaden their artistic capabilities.In this manner it can be stated that there are a lot of similarities between Yolande Moreau and Josiane Balasko. However,there are also many differences in their style and treatment of innovative ideas.Josiane Balasko has made some quirky films which have a dream like quality to them.Yolande Moreau seems to be taking the same path with her own wisdom.Quand La Mer Monte has its fair share of happy moments but a lonely mother meeting an innocent loser type material is not at all new for French cinema.However,it is the presentation of this film which is quite unique.We also get to see many talented Belgian cinema actors such as Olivier Gourmet and Bouli Lanners.This is what makes Yolande Moreau an endearing character.This is a film which has been set in northern France,an area considered as backward by people from South France.The film is charming but it has its own annoyances too.By the time viewers are halfway through the film they are able to correctly guess that it would end with a sad event.This is the only major drawback of this deeply personal film as it is strictly for those cinema fans who would like to watch Théâtre Filmé/filmed theater.
    5Spuzzlightyear

    Ah! The Joys of Stalking!

    While The Tide Rolls In details the flingy romance two schleps get into. The female is a sort of a unattractive, yet successful performer, doing a DREADFUL one woman show. The guy seems to be a desperate creature who is one short of a stalker when he follows her around after a show in which she chose the guy to join up on stage with her. After he keeps showing up, rather then phoning the police, the woman sort of FALLS for the guy. Now, if that's not really the WRONG thing to do, then I don't what is. Anyways, they go up and down the coast of France to perform her silly clown one woman show to large theaters (yeah right) to seniors homes (more likely). Anyways, they learn a lot of each other, and well, that's about it.. Pretty unremarkable.
    7paperbackboy

    Quirky, intriguing romance

    An attractive and unsettling film about how we act when placed in unfamiliar situations, and how relationships can creep up on us in spite of ourselves.

    The characters are cleverly handled - the female lead, comedian/actress Irène, is touring Northern France with her one-woman show, in which she plays a hideously masked widow with a horrible secret. The show is ironically titled "A dirty business: sex and crime". Yet she appears comfortable in this role, and has a settled family life, evidenced in her cellphone conversations.

    The male lead, on the other hand, despite his uncertain role in the conventional socio-economic matrix (he is frequently described as a "drifter" in many reviews), also challenges the viewer's easy assumptions by displaying strong moral, artistic and cultural roots. It is he who challenges himself by joining in Irène's show, and who ultimately displays the stronger moral sensibilities. He also has a sympathetic circle of friends, and a happy social life, which contrasts sharply with Irène's lonely hotel nights.

    These complex characters retain our sympathy throughout, while continuing to unsettle us. Each of us, in our lives, whether we are like Irène or Dries, is only a choice (whether good or bad) away from entering a strange and possibly wonderful, possibly damaging relationship.

    The quirky, alienating sets (including a steelworks and a Flemish giant-maker's workshop) and geographical location (straddling the Franco-Belgian border, where Flemish and French cultures overlap) add to the film's interest, and give it a powerful sense of place. Dries himself is a native Flemish (Dutch) speaker, and the return to his adoptive parents' house, which provides a brief (unsubtitled) plunge into the Dutch language, is bewildering for both the viewer as well as Irène (although the actress playing the character is herself half-Flemish).

    Ultimately, the film is both sad and uplifting, and challenges our assumptions about the way we value individuals on the basis of their roles in society.

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    Related interests

    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Quotes

      Irène: You shouldn't introduced me to your parents as your wife.

    • Connections
      Featured in Humbert Balsan, producteur rebelle (2006)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 27, 2004 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • Belgium
      • France
    • Official sites
      • Official site (France)
      • Slant Magazine [Nick Schager]
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • En smutsig affär
    • Filming locations
      • Grande-Synthe, Nord, France(Palais du Littoral)
    • Production companies
      • Ognon Pictures
      • Stromboli Films
      • Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $24,038
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $8,058
      • Jan 15, 2006
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,443,335
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 29m(89 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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