That Most Important Thing: Love

That Most Important Thing: Love
Directed byAndrzej Żuławski
Written by
Starring
Music byGeorges Delerue
Distributed by
  • S. N. Prodis (France)
  • Seaberg Film Distr. (US) dubbed
Release date
  • 12 February 1975 (1975-02-12)
Running time
  • 105 mins (cut version)
  • 113 mins (director's cut, NTSC)
  • 108 mins (director's cut, PAL)
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

That Most Important Thing: Love (original French title: L'important c'est d'aimer) is a French film directed by Polish filmmaker Andrzej Żuławski. It tells the story of a passionate love relationship between Nadine Chevalier, a B-List actress (Romy Schneider), and Servais Mont, a photographer (Fabio Testi), in the violent and unforgiving French show business.

After Żuławski's second film, The Devil, was banned in Poland,[1] he decided to move to France, where he made this film in 1975.[2] He coadapted and directed it based on the novel by Christopher Frank La Nuit américaine [fr] (unrelated to the 1973 François Truffaut film of that name). The success in France was such – it was featuring the very popular actress Romy Schneider and French singer Jacques Dutronc – that it allowed Żuławski to return to Poland. The film had a total of 1,544,986 admissions in France.[3]

Romy Schneider received the inaugural César Award for Best Actress for this role and Pedro Almodóvar dedicated his film All About My Mother partially to her in this role.[4]

  1. ^ Atkinson, Michael (2008). Exile Cinema Filmmakers at Work beyond Hollywood. SUNY Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-7914-7861-5.
  2. ^ María Luisa Amador; Jorge Ayala Blanco (2006). Cartelera cinematográfica, 1980–1989. UNAM. p. 425. ISBN 978-970-32-3605-3.
  3. ^ L'important c'est d'aimer at JP's Box-Office
  4. ^ Almodóvar, Pedro. "Comments on All About My Mother". Archived from the original on 2011-11-12. The other dedicatees were Gena Rowlands in Opening Night and Bette Davis in All About Eve.