| La Chamade | |
| Director: | Alain Cavalier |
| Producer: | Maria Rosaria |
| Cinematography: | Pierre Lhomme |
| Editing: | Pierre Gillette |
| Music: | Maurice Le Roux |
| Runtime: | 103 minutes |
| Language: | French |
La Chamade (also titled Heartbeat in English) is a 1968 romantic drama film directed by Alain Cavalier from a screenplay he co-wrote with Françoise Sagan, based on Sagan's 1965 novel of the same name. It stars Catherine Deneuve and Michel Piccoli.
Twenty-five-year-old Lucile is the beautiful mistress to Charles, a wealthy, kind-hearted businessman who provides for all her material needs, but for whom she has no true love. When she meets a charming young man her own age, Antoine, she falls in love. He finds her a menial job in a publishing firm, but she can not or will not hold it down. Soon she becomes pregnant with his child. But Charles helps her through her crisis by funding her abortion – against the wishes of Antoine, who nevertheless accepts, even though he planned on moving out of his bachelor flat, the three of them into a soulless concrete block, money being short. In the aftermath, her feelings for the younger Antoine fade. Eventually, she returns to the good-hearted businessman who has patiently waited for her.
La Chamade was filmed on location in Paris and Nice.[1]
Filming took place in April 1968 and was interrupted by riots in Paris.[2]
Upon its theatrical release, La Chamade received generally positive reviews. In his review in The New York Times, Vincent Canby wrote, "Cavalier may have created a practically perfect screen equivalent of the novelist's prose style."[3] In addition to praising the performances by Deneuve and Piccoli, Canby writes: