Élisa is a 1995 dramatic French film directed by Jean Becker and starring Vanessa Paradis, Gérard Depardieu, Clotilde Courau, Firmine Richard and Florence Thomassin. It was released by Gaumont through Gaumont Buena Vista International in France on 1 February 1995.
Contents
Plot
Marie is a teenage girl living a life of crime with her friends on the streets of Paris. Her mother, Élisa, suffering from poverty and abandoned by her husband and estranged from her parents, had tried to kill her when she was very young and later committed suicide. Her father has never been a part of her life. One day, Marie decides to find him and take revenge for not helping her as a child. However, when she finds him, she realizes she cannot kill him. A flashback reveals that he had left her mother because she had prostituted herself to support the family. After discovering a love letter her father had written to her mother, Marie forgives him.
Cast
Vanessa Paradis as Marie Desmoulin
Gérard Depardieu as Jacques 'Lébovitch' Desmoulin
Clotilde Courau as Solange
Sekkou Sall as Ahmed
Florence Thomassin as Élisa Desmoulin
Michel Bouquet as Samuel
Philippe Léotard as Gitane Smoker
Catherine Rouvel as Manina
Melvil Poupaud as Pharmacist's son
Olivier Saladin as Kevin
Bernard Verley as The contractor
José Garcia as Taxi Passenger
Philippe Duquesne as P.M.U. Owner
Firmine Richard as P.M.U. Customer
Samir Guesmi
Themes
The film features the song Elisa by Serge Gainsbourg, to whom the film is posthumously dedicated. The song tells about the love of a man in his forties for a girl in her twenties, alluding to Marie and her father Jacques.
