| The Abyss | |
|---|---|
Film poster | |
| Directed by | André Delvaux |
| Written by | André Delvaux Marguerite Yourcenar |
| Produced by | Jean-Claude Batz Philippe Dussart |
| Starring | Gian Maria Volonté |
| Cinematography | Charles Van Damme |
| Edited by | Albert Jurgenson |
| Music by | Frédéric Devreese |
Release date |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
| Countries | France Belgium |
| Language | French |
The Abyss (French : L'Œuvre au noir) is a 1988 drama film directed by André Delvaux. It was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. [1] It is based on the novel of the same name by Marguerite Yourcenar. The film received the André Cavens Award for Best Film by the Belgian Film Critics Association (UCC).
In the 16th century, the Duke of Alba crushed the rebellion of Flanders against Spain. The strict Catholic King Philip II of Spain (1556-1598), restricted religious freedom and applied the decrees of the Council of Trent which strengthened the power of the Inquisition in Flanders. During this turbulent period, the venerable writer and philosopher Zénon Ligre arrived in Bruges.
The doctor and alchemist Zénon Ligre returns to his country of origin Flanders using false documentation, after spending his life traveling around Europe. In his hometown of Bruges, he finds work as a doctor in the convent of the Cordeliers. After founding a clinic and spa, he sets out to work as a doctor and alchemist for the poor. Zénon‘s ideology and methods were very popular among the Flemish population, but they ran the risk of being condemned by the Inquisition because they deviated from official orthodoxy. Having engaged in bisexual relations for several years, Zénon is accused of having homosexual relations with a young friar. Long sought after by authorities for his subversive writings, Zénon is arrested. He is tried by a court of the Inquisition and accused of witchcraft, murder, and unnatural relations. Rather than be burned at the stake, he prefers to choose his own death.
Marguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist who became a US citizen in 1947. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie Française, in 1980. In 1965, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

André Albert Auguste Delvaux was a Belgian film director. He co-founded the film school INSAS in 1962 and is regarded as the founder of the Belgian national cinema. Adapting works by writers such as Johan Daisne, Julien Gracq and Marguerite Yourcenar, he received international attention for directing magic realist films.
Louis Marie Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down", Malle made documentaries, romances, period dramas, and thrillers. He often depicted provocative or controversial subject matter.
Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor and activist. He is best known for his roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), El Indio in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965), El Chuncho Munoz in Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1966) and Professor Brad Fletcher in Sergio Sollima's Face to Face (1967).
André Téchiné is a French screenwriter and film director. He has a long and distinguished career that places him among the most accomplished post-New Wave French film directors.

Le Corbeau is a 1943 French film noir directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and starring Pierre Fresnay, Micheline Francey and Pierre Larquey. The film is about a French town where a number of citizens receive anonymous letters containing libelous information, particularly targeting a doctor accused of providing abortion services. The mystery surrounding the letters eventually escalates into violence.
Brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, collectively referred to as the Dardenne brothers, are a Belgian filmmaking duo. They write, produce, and direct their films together. They also own the production company Les Films du Fleuve.
Frédéric Devreese was a Belgian composer of mostly orchestral, chamber and piano works that have been performed throughout the world; he was also active as a conductor. Devreese is known for his film scores, including Benvenuta by André Delvaux and The Cruel Embrace by Marion Hänsel.

The Abyss is a 1968 novel by the Belgian-French writer Marguerite Yourcenar. Its narrative centers on the life of Zeno, a physician, philosopher, scientist and alchemist born in Bruges during the Renaissance era. The book was published in France in 1968 and was met with immediate popular interest as well as critical acclaim, obtaining the Prix Femina with unanimous votes the year of its publication. The English translation by Grace Frick has been published under the title The Abyss or alternatively Zeno of Bruges. Belgian filmmaker André Delvaux adapted it into a film in 1988.

Flanders is a 2006 French drama film, written and directed by Bruno Dumont. It tells the story of André Demester, a man whose girlfriend betrays him out of frustration with his lack of emotion. He is then sent to fight in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, where he experiences the horrors of war.

Lady Killer is a 1937 French drama film directed by Jean Grémillon and starring Jean Gabin, Mireille Balin and Marguerite Deval. It has been classified as both a film noir and an entry into the poetic realist group of films of the late 1930s. It was produced by the German company UFA in conjunction with its own French subsidiary ACE. Like Port of Shadows it drew on the tradition of German expressionism in its lighting and set design, although the Nazi authorities were opposed to the expressionist style.

The 7th Cannes Film Festival was held from 25 March to 9 April 1954. With Jean Cocteau as president of the jury, the Grand Prix went to the Gate of Hell by Teinosuke Kinugasa. The festival opened with Le Grand Jeu by Robert Siodmak. This was the last festival with a predominantly French jury.

The 41st Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 23 May 1988. The Palme d'Or went to the Pelle erobreren by Bille August.

Jacques Doniol-Valcroze was a French actor, critic, screenwriter, and director. In 1951, Doniol-Valcroze was a co-founder of the renowned film magazine Cahiers du cinéma, along with André Bazin and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. The magazine was initially edited by Doniol-Valcroze between 1951–1957. As critic, he championed numerous filmmakers including Orson Welles, Howard Hawks, and Nicholas Ray. In 1955, then 23-year-old François Truffaut made a short film in Doniol-Valcroze's apartment, Une Visite. Jacques's daughter Florence played a minor part in it.

Thieves is a 1996 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Daniel Auteuil, Catherine Deneuve and Laurence Côte. The plot follows a cynical police officer, who comes from a family of thieves, and a lonely philosophy professor, both romantically involved with a self-destructive petty criminal. With a puzzling structure, the story is told through a series of flashbacks presented from four different perspectives.
Dominique Cabrera is a French film director. She has taught filmmaking at La Fémis and at Harvard University. Her film Nadia et les hippopotames was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Additionally, her work has screened in the Berlinale, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Vienna International Film Festival, the Locarno Film Festival, the Rotterdam Film Festival, and in the New York Film Festival, among others.
Hugo Becker is a French actor, director and producer. He is known for his roles as Louis Grimaldi in the American drama television series Gossip Girl and Romain in the French thriller series Chefs.
Jean Le Poulain was a French stage actor and stage director.
Pierre Lescure is a French journalist and television executive. He is known for having founded the French TV music show Les Enfants du rock broadcast on public television from 1981 to 1988 and for having led the French Canal+ channel from its creation in 1984 to 2002. Since 2015 he has been the president of the Cannes Film Festival.

Brother and Sister is a 2022 French drama film directed by Arnaud Desplechin, starring Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud as estranged siblings who are forced to reunite after two decades following the death of their parents. The film made its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or, and was released in theaters in France on the same day as its Cannes premiere, on 20 May 2022.