Trama

In the seaside town of Boulogne, no one seems to be able to cope with their past, least of all Hélène, an antique furniture saleswoman, her stepson Bernard, and her former lover Alphonse.

In the seacoast town of Boulogne, Hélène sells antique furniture, living with her step-son, Bernard, who's back from military duty in Algiers. An old lover of Hélène's comes to visit - Alphonse - with his niece Françoise; he too is back from Algiers, where he ran a café. Bernard speaks of his fiancée, Muriel, whom Hélène has not met. The narrative, like memory and intention, is jumpy, the past obscured by guilt, misperceptions, and missed possibilities. Appearances deceive, things change. As Hélène and Alphonse try to sort out a renewal, everyone seems off-kilter just enough to hint that all cannot end well. Can anyone know another?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1962. Struggling with her day-to-day life, Hélène Aughain, a middle-aged widow and antique dealer, lives under the same roof with her troubled stepson, Bernard, a veteran of the Algerian War, now in his mid-twenties. Then, unexpectedly, grizzled former lover Alphonse Noyard, a dignified gentleman who has returned from a lengthy stay in Algeria, re-enters Hélène's mundane life, bringing with him new mistress Françoise, an aspiring young actress. However, as obsessive memories of lost loves and traumatic wartime experiences blemish the imagined idyllic past, tensions between everyone involved rise to the breaking point, and shocking dark secrets come to light. Is reality, indeed, subjective?—Nick Riganas