Adapted from Romain Gary’s autobiographical novel, Eric Barbier, his cast and crew have made a beautifully designed and photographed film that tells a powerful story based on true events in the turbulent Europe of the first half of the 20th century. Pawel Puchalski as the very young Romain Gary and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Romain's mother Nina shine.
Mexico 1960 – Day of the Dead, amid the crowd of the celebrations, Lesley Blanch (Catherine MacCormack) is looking for her French husband Romain Gary (Pierre Niney). He is feverish and believes that he may be dying. On the five-hour taxi ride to Mexico City to take her husband to the hospital, she reads the manuscript of his autobiographical novel, which comes to life before her eyes. Young Roman Kacev (Pawel Puchalski) comes from Russia where he was born to Polish Vilna (today Vilnius the capital of Lithuania) as a child with his mother Nina (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her maid Aniela (Katarzyna Skarzanka). Nina hails from a Jewish family, is a seamstress with an imagination that is larger than life and a love of everything French. She puts her creativity into her clothes as well as into her marketing efforts and she puts a boundless ambition into her son Roman. Her willingness to share the ambition she has for her son to become a leading recognized figure in the arts, in the French military and diplomatic corps, does not only lead to most of her neighbours considering her megalomaniac but makes her son’s social life hell. Yet Nina goes further: she quite practically ensures that between the ages of 8 and 14 her son practically prepares for the fantastical life she has ordained for him: Roman learns French, takes dancing lessons, takes pistol shooting lessons and acquires other skills, some more successfully than others. Although talented in painting, he is not allowed to become a painter, since, in Nina’s view, great painters have sad lives and only get recognition after death; this is certainly not what she wants for her boy Roman. What follows is the story of Nina imposing a giant sublimated Oedipus Complex on Roman which leads him on the road to seemingly reluctant multitalented achievement and almost effortless success in obtaining the attentions of beautiful women. Yet inner unrest and suffering are growing inside Roman as time passes. No matter how many successes he may try for to please his much-larger-than-life-mother, he cannot will happiness and everlasting life for Nina and himself.
Adapted from Romain Gary’s autobiographical novel, Eric Barbier, his cast and crew have made a beautifully designed and photographed film that tells a powerful story based on true events in the turbulent Europe of the first half of the 20th century. The story of young Roman and his mother's early days in Vilna is particularly well told and acted; Charlotte Gainsbourg as Nina and the Pawel Puchalski as the very young Roman shine. In the second half of the film, the telling of the story is still very competent and the production values are impressive, but the psychological depth of the relationships is lost somewhat. It is too much up to the viewers to add this aspect in their imagination. Nevertheless, the multi-award winning Promise at Dawn is a spellbinding film based on a true story of courage, promise, ambition, talent, and love.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5061360/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ql_1
Mexico 1960 – Day of the Dead, amid the crowd of the celebrations, Lesley Blanch (Catherine MacCormack) is looking for her French husband Romain Gary (Pierre Niney). He is feverish and believes that he may be dying. On the five-hour taxi ride to Mexico City to take her husband to the hospital, she reads the manuscript of his autobiographical novel, which comes to life before her eyes. Young Roman Kacev (Pawel Puchalski) comes from Russia where he was born to Polish Vilna (today Vilnius the capital of Lithuania) as a child with his mother Nina (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her maid Aniela (Katarzyna Skarzanka). Nina hails from a Jewish family, is a seamstress with an imagination that is larger than life and a love of everything French. She puts her creativity into her clothes as well as into her marketing efforts and she puts a boundless ambition into her son Roman. Her willingness to share the ambition she has for her son to become a leading recognized figure in the arts, in the French military and diplomatic corps, does not only lead to most of her neighbours considering her megalomaniac but makes her son’s social life hell. Yet Nina goes further: she quite practically ensures that between the ages of 8 and 14 her son practically prepares for the fantastical life she has ordained for him: Roman learns French, takes dancing lessons, takes pistol shooting lessons and acquires other skills, some more successfully than others. Although talented in painting, he is not allowed to become a painter, since, in Nina’s view, great painters have sad lives and only get recognition after death; this is certainly not what she wants for her boy Roman. What follows is the story of Nina imposing a giant sublimated Oedipus Complex on Roman which leads him on the road to seemingly reluctant multitalented achievement and almost effortless success in obtaining the attentions of beautiful women. Yet inner unrest and suffering are growing inside Roman as time passes. No matter how many successes he may try for to please his much-larger-than-life-mother, he cannot will happiness and everlasting life for Nina and himself.
Adapted from Romain Gary’s autobiographical novel, Eric Barbier, his cast and crew have made a beautifully designed and photographed film that tells a powerful story based on true events in the turbulent Europe of the first half of the 20th century. The story of young Roman and his mother's early days in Vilna is particularly well told and acted; Charlotte Gainsbourg as Nina and the Pawel Puchalski as the very young Roman shine. In the second half of the film, the telling of the story is still very competent and the production values are impressive, but the psychological depth of the relationships is lost somewhat. It is too much up to the viewers to add this aspect in their imagination. Nevertheless, the multi-award winning Promise at Dawn is a spellbinding film based on a true story of courage, promise, ambition, talent, and love.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5061360/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ql_1
Promise at Dawn
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