Ça commence aujourd'hui (1999)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Bertrand Tavernier

Writers:

Dominique Sampiero (writer)
Bertrand Tavernier (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

12 March 1999 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Daniel is schoolmaster of a kindergarten in a small French town. The local economy, which depended entirely on coal production...

Plot Keywords:

Discouragement | Schoolmaster | Poverty | Punctuation In Title | School Kids

Awards:

9 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Philippe Torreton	...	Daniel Lefebvre
Maria Pitarresi	...	Valeria
Nadia Kaci	...	Samia Damouni
Véronique Ataly	...	Mrs. Lienard
Nathalie Bécue	...	Cathy
Emmanuelle Bercot	...	Mrs. Tievaux
Françoise Bette	...	Mrs. Delacourt
Christine Citti	...	Mrs. Baudoin
Christina Crevillén	...	Sophie
Sylviane Goudal	...	Gloria
Didier Bezace	...	Inspector
Betty Teboulle	...	Mrs. Henry
Gérard Giroudon	...	Mayor
Marief Guittier	...	Daniel's mother
Daniel Delabesse	...	Marc
Jean-Claude Frissung	...	Director's colleague
Thierry Gibault	...	Police inspector
Philippe Meyer	...	Council member
Gerald Cesbron	...	Mr. Henry
Michelle Goddet	...	Beaten child's mother
Stefan Elbaum	...	Beaten child's uncle
Nathalie Desprez	...	Mrs. Bry
Françoise Miquelis	...	Mrs. Duhem
Frédéric Richard	...	Mr. Bacheux
Johanne Cornil-Leconte	...	Mrs. Bacheux
Lambert Marchal	...	Rémi
Sylvie Delbauffe	...	Woman with baby
Mathieu Lenne	...	Jimmy
Rémi Henneuse	...	Kevin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Corinne Aghte	...	Mrs. Paquotte
Dominique Bouchard	...	Doctor
Benoît Constant	...	Daniel's father
Patrick Courteix	...	Mrs. Henry's neighbor
Véronique Dargent	...	Mrs. Loiseau
Valérie Dermagne	...	Nurse
Lilyane Discret	...	Young mother
Leila Duhem	...	Mrs. Polliaert
Yamina Duvivier	...	Mrs. Chimot
Séverine Fernand	...	Angeline's mother
Catherine Gorosz	...	Mrs. Daumise
Christophe Guichet	...	Daniel's brother
Nadia Ikisse	...	Mrs. Mimouni
Marie-Madeleine Langlois	...	Neighbour's wife
Nelly Larachiche	...	Mrs. Legrand
France Leroy	...	Café owner
Claude Liénard	...	Mrs. Henry's doctor
Marcelle Loutre	...	Guegdan's mother
Kelly Mercier	...	Laetitia
Jacky Meunier	...	Valeria's father
Cécile Montagnon	...	Mrs. Lamart
Michèle Niewrzeda	...	Mrs. Bornat
Vincenza Orologio	...	Valeria's mother
Marie-Françoise Prette	...	Mrs. Marchal
Linda Prudhomme	...	Mrs. Dupuis
Monique Quivy	...	Dining hall lady
Claude Ronnaux	...	Colleague
Françoise Sage	...	Mrs. Mériaux
Pascale Verdière	...	Nanny

Directed by
Bertrand Tavernier

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Dominique Sampiero		writer
Bertrand Tavernier		writer
Tiffany Tavernier		writer

Produced by
Frédéric Bourboulon	....	producer
Alain Sarde	....	producer

Original Music by
Louis Sclavis

Cinematography by
Alain Choquart

Film Editing by
Sophie Brunet

Art Direction by
Thierry François

Costume Design by
Marpessa Djian

Makeup Department
Beya Gasmi	....	key hair stylist
Agnès Tassel	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jean-Louis Bergamini	....	assistant unit manager
Benoît Charrie	....	unit manager
Sébastien Coulet	....	assistant unit manager
François Hamel	....	production manager
Olivier Lagny	....	assistant unit manager
Henry Le Turc	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Pierre Abela	....	first assistant director
Sylvie Confolent	....	assistant director
Fanny Etienne	....	assistant director
Tiffany Tavernier	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Denis Bourgier	....	property buyer
François Decaux	....	first assistant decorator
Paul Decaux	....	property master
Sylvie Grand d'Esnon	....	head painter
Gabriel Passajou	....	construction manager

Sound Department
Jean-Michel Chauvet	....	sound assistant
Michel Desrois	....	sound
Judith Guittier	....	assistant foley artist
Gérard Lamps	....	sound re-recording mixer
Laurent Lévy	....	foley artist
Didier Lizé	....	sound engineer
Elisabeth Paquotte	....	sound editor
Alain Primot	....	assistant sound editor
Christian Riffard	....	post-production audio
Eric Tisserand	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Éric Alirol	....	electrician
Christophe Asselin	....	second assistant camera
Albert Bonomi	....	key grip
Marc Casi	....	grip
Philippe Deneau	....	gaffer
Arnaud Desbuquois	....	grip
Christian Inizan	....	gaffer
Alain Martigny	....	electrician
Philippe Renaud	....	first assistant camera (as Philippe Renaut)
Xavier Tauveron	....	assistant camera: second unit
Jürgen Vollmer	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Valérie Le Hello	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Florence Dard	....	post-production coordinator
Isabelle Julien	....	color timer
Guillaume Lebel	....	trainee assistant editor
Sophie Mandonnet	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Jean-François Canape	....	musician: Trumpet and bugle
Bruno Chevillon	....	musician: contrabasse
Christophe Marguet	....	musician: drums
Jean Pepeck	....	orchestra leader
François Raulin	....	musician: piano
Yves Robert	....	musician: trombone
Louis Sclavis	....	musician: Clarinets and Saxophones

Other crew
Sylvie Chevereau-Marchais	....	production administrator
Lucilio Da Costa	....	groupman (as Lucilio Da Costa Pais)
Phil Hall	....	film publicist
Agnès Le Pont	....	general administrator
Florence Loubeau	....	production secretary
Zoe Zurstrassen	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Canal+
• Les Films Alain Sarde
• Little Bear
• TF1 Films Production

Distributors

• Arsenal (Germany)
• Asociace Ceských Filmových Klubu (ACFK) (Czech Republic)
• BIM Distribuzione (Italy)
• Cinema Mondo (2000) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Cult Filmes (Brazil) (VHS)
• Facets Multimedia Distribution (2005) (USA) (all media)
• Filmcoopi Zürich (1999-2000) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• IFA (Argentina)
• Independent Artists (I) (2000) (USA) (subtitled)
• Pan Vision Oy (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (DVD)
• United King Films (Israel)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2004) (Finland) (TV)

Also Known As:

It All Starts Today (Europe: English title)
Allt börjar idag (Sweden) [sv]
Den börjar i dag (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Det begynner i dag (Norway) (TV title) [no]
Es beginnt heute (Germany) [de]
Ha-Kol Mut'hill Ha-Yom (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Hoy empieza todo (Spain) [es]
Quando Tudo Começa (Brazil) [pt]
Ricomincia da oggi (Italy) [it]
Tänään se alkaa (Finland) [fi]
Todo comienza hoy (Argentina) [es]
Zacznijmy juz dzis (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Finland:S | France:U | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | Chile:TE

Company:

Canal+

Movie Connections:

References Germinal (1993)

A declaration of love to the children!

"Ca commence aujourd'hui" is a poetic film without poetry: Tavernier narrate the fictitious story in sober, cold, unspectacular pictures, that nevertheless move to tears.

The social and emotional cruelties are not shown, but they are always existent and take shape in the mind of the spectator. Tavernier succeeds excellent in connecting individual and group destinies to portray a society that query the right of some children to exist. It's a very impressing and important film, because of its clear moral and unconditional declaration of love to the children.