A Promise
- Patrice Leconte
- 2013
- 1h 38m
- France, Belgium
Leconte's assured, yet delicate, directorial touch creates a world of melancholy and mourning, employing intricate costumes, imposing spaces and moody music. He crafts a film that moves at its own unique pace, while Alan Rickman is brilliant in one of his last roles.
Synopsis
Germany, 1912. A young man gets a job at a steel plant, and the owner, impressed by his work, makes him his secretary. When his employer’s health worsens forcing him to stay indoors, his secretary moves in with him and his younger wife. He falls in love with her and when his boss announces that he is sending him to Mexico for two years, she makes a promise: when he comes back, she will be his. Eight years later, after millions of deaths and Europe destroyed by war, he returns home.