"In search of lost time, we won't grow old together"

Perhaps this is why Catherine and Jean seem to be together whenever parting. She gets in or out of his car, she's taking a train and he's seeing her off but can't make a clean goodbye. One of them walks off in a pique of temper, usually him, only to return to the other very soon afterwards. It's all very sad but of course it's also the end of their affair.

The lines from Pavese that were read by Jean to Catherine so poignant: I used to find life horrible but still thought myself interesting. Now the opposite is true. Life is wonderful but I feel excluded. I tell you, my love, that I have never woken with a woman beside me who has ever taken me seriously in love and I have never known the grateful look a woman gives a man. The conversation that followed was equally heartfelt and underlined how excluded Jean was from women.

The film was visually stunning; the light was amazing and colours were highlighted. The actresses playing Catherine and Francoise were beautiful with amazing bone structure. There was something alluring and pitiful about Jean and the actor playing him drew the eye. I rate the film 9/10 and would give a higher mark if I felt it more. Not quite sure what I mean by that but it eluded me a bit.

A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.