''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, s ...

. 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 (; )  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 and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

mountains of France. Due to her lack of understanding of what's good or bad, the village has taken advantage of her. 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 for 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 aging, 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 the village's traveling "filles de joie." This unsettles Fabrice and he beats Julien out of their shack and forces himself on her. Julien walks back home feeling depressed and commits suicide by jumping from the top of Cascade Saint-Benoît. The next morning, on their way to Fabrice's home, Fabrice and Helle see 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 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 (instrument), 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. ...

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 ...

as Hellé * Jean-Claude Bouillon 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 se ...

as Fabrice Fournier * Maria Mauban 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 Les Misérables (1982 film), the 1982 adaptation of ''Les Misérables'' and appeared in ''Vice and Virtue'', ''Le Casse'', ''Les U ...

as Kleber * Maria Schneider as Nicole * Diane Vernon as Greta * Georges Poujouly * Dora Doll *

Anna Prucnal Anna Magdalena Prucnal-Michaud (born 17 December 1940) is a Polish actress and singer who worked in film and theatre. Life Prucnal was born in Warsaw, Poland. After her father, a surgeon, was killed by the Nazism, Nazis during World War II, Anna ...

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 French-language drama films {{1970s-France-film-stub