L' Important C'est d'Aimer

Director: Andrzej Zulawski Andrzej Zulawski

Overview

Freelance photographer Servais (Fabio Testi) meets luckless Nadine Chevalier (Romy Schneider) an aging, world-weary, would-be movie star who thus far has only been able to find work in cheap exploitation movies. Trying to win her affection, Servais borrows the money from his underworld employers to launch a theatrical production of +Richard III starring Nadine as Lady Anne. Though cold and skeptical at first, Nadine gradually falls in love with Servais, and eventually finds herself torn between him and her husband Jacques (Jacques Dutronc), to whom she feels morally obligated. Set in a world of losers and futile talents, this dark and moody drama depicts love as the only source of salvation. Memorable performances and skillful direction make this film a powerful experience.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/16/2020
UPC:	0850003924786
Original Release:	1975
Rating:	NR
Source:	Film Movement
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[stereo, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:53:00
Sales rank:	52,328

Special Features

Interview with Andrzej Zulawski; Alternate English language version; Original Trailer; 16-page booklet with new essay by author Kat Ellinger

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Romy Schneider	Nadine Chevalier
Jacques Dutronc	Jacques Chevalier
Fabio Testi	Servais Mont
Klaus Kinski	Karl-Heinz Zimmer
Claude Dauphin	Mazelli
Roger Blin	Father
Michel Robin	Lapade
Guy Mairesse	Messala
Gabrielle Doulcet	Madame Mazelli
Katia Tchenko	Actor
Nicoletta Machiavelli	Actor
Paul Bisciglia	Actor
Sylvain	Actor
Olga Valery	Actor
Jacques Boudet	Actor
Claude Legros	Actor
Michel Such	Actor
Kira Potonie	Messala's wife
Georges Delerue	Composer

Technical Credits

Christopher Frank

Andrzej ¿u¿awski

Andrzej Zulawski	Director
Albina du Boisrouvray	Producer
Christopher Frank	Screenwriter
Andrzej ¿u¿awski	Screenwriter
Léo Fuchs	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

One of the more enduring efforts from iconoclastic director Andrzej Zulawski, this hallucinatory psychological romance helped establish the moods, themes, and techniques that would inform the director's work through the 1980s and 1990s. Somewhere between the hip, laconic spectatorship of Blow-Up-era Michelangelo Antonioni and the urgent, operatic work of Roman Polanski, L'Important revolves around a disaffected photographer (Fabio Testi) and the struggling actress (Romy Schneider) with whom he becomes obsessed, to the consternation of her jester-like husband (Jacques Dutronc). Zulawski seems less interested in the film's skeletal narrative than in the wildly modulated emotions the story can evince from his cast: His approach results in performances memorable for their subtlety (Dutronc) as well as for their histrionic bravado (Klaus Kinski, in a small but telling role). As with much of the director's work, L'Important met with derision from critics who misinterpreted his seemingly scattershot technique; love it or hate it, Zulawski clearly intends to forge a new cinematic language.