''Helle'' is a 1972 French film directed by

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, su ...

. The film recorded admissions of 345,984 in France.Box office information for Roger Vaim films
at Box Office Story

Plot

Helle is a mentally retarded, deaf and mute village girl who lives high in the

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

mountains of France. She is taken advantage by the village people for her lack of understanding what's good and bad. Maria is a widow and has two sons, Julien and Fabrice. The eldest one, Julien is a war veteran and his time in Vietnam has broken him. Fabrice, the youngest one comes home to spend summer vacation and falls in love with Helle. Helle in her own ways feels for him and finds herself unable to communicate it. Maria who is ageing falls in love with a sleazy guy who cunningly takes her fancy car in the name of love, and he entertains her fancy over him. Julien tells Fabrice that Helle is village's traveling "filles de joie." This unsettles Fabrice and he beats Julien out from their shack and forces himself on her. Julien walking back home feels depressed and commits suicide by jumping from the top of Cascade Saint-Benoît. Next morning, Fabrice and Helle goes to his home and on the way he sees his mother lying on the field depressed that her lover has left her. Fabrice calls Helle to follow him but seeing his love and closeness to his mother, Helle sees herself as an outsider and goes to the church where she first fell in love with Fabrice and falls in a despair. However, hearing the church bell faintly she finds herself happy and plays around like a cow by mistaking it for a

cowbell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...

Cast

Gwen Welles Gwen Welles (born Gwen Goldberg, March 4, 1951 – October 13, 1993) was an American actress. Early years Gwen Welles was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as Gwen Goldberg. She was the daughter of clothing designer Rebecca Welles and Barton G ...

as Hellé *

Jean-Claude Bouillon Jean-Claude Bouillon (27 December 1941 – 31 July 2017) was a French actor. He appeared in more than eighty films from 1966 until 2015. Filmography References Footnotes Sources * External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouillon, Jean-Clau ...

as François de Marceau *

Didier Haudepin Didier Haudepin (born 15 August 1951) is a French actor, film producer, director and screenwriter. He has appeared in 44 films and television shows, and plays since 1960. His film ''Those Were the Days'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard sec ...

as Fabrice Fournier *

Maria Mauban Maria Mauban (10 May 1924 – 26 August 2014) was a French actress. She appeared in around fifty films and television series during her career. in 1950 she starred in the British Egyptian-set crime film ''Cairo Road''. The same year she appeared ...

as la mère de Fabrice * Bruno Pradal as Julien Fournier *

Robert Hossein Robert Hossein (30 December 1927 – 31 December 2020) was a French film actor, director, and writer. He directed the 1982 adaptation of ''Les Misérables'' and appeared in '' Vice and Virtue'', '' Le Casse'', '' Les Uns et les Autres'' and '' ...

as Kleber *

Maria Schneider Maria Schneider may refer to: * Maria Schneider (politician) (born 1923), East German politician * Maria Schneider (actress) (1952–2011), French actress * Maria Schneider (musician) Maria Lynn Schneider (born November 27, 1960) is an Americ ...

as Nicole *

Diane Vernon Diane may refer to: People *Diane (given name) Film * ''Diane'' (1929 film), a German silent film * ''Diane'' (1956 film), a historical drama film starring Lana Turner * ''Diane'' (2017 film), a mystery film directed by Michael Mongillo * ''D ...

as Greta *

Georges Poujouly Georges Poujouly (20 January 1940 in Garches, Hauts-de-Seine – 28 October 2000 in Villejuif, Val-de-Marne) was a French actor who gained international acclaim as a child for his performance in the award-winning film ''Forbidden Games''. I ...

Dora Doll Dora Doll (born Dorothea Hermina Feinberg; 19 May 1922 – 15 November 2015) was a French actress. Career One of her first screen appearances was as Juliette in Henri-Georges Clouzot's ''Manon'' (1949). She appeared as Lola in Jacques Becker's ...

Anna Prucnal Anna Prucnal (born 17 December 1940) is a Polish actress in both cinema and theatre, as well as a singer. Prucnal was born in Warsaw, Poland. After her father, a surgeon, was killed by the Nazis during World War II, Anna and her sister were rai ...

References

External links

* 1972 films 1972 drama films French drama films Films directed by Roger Vadim Films scored by Philippe Sarde Films set in 1951 1970s French-language films 1970s French films {{1970s-France-film-stub