When the Sea Rises

When The Sea Rises is a sweet and genuinely off-beat romantic comedy written and directed by acclaimed French comedienne Yolande Moreau and cinematographer Gilles Porte. Showcasing outstanding performances by Moreau and newcomer Wim Willaert, When the Sea Rises tells the story of Irene (Moreau), a 45-year-old actress traveling from one small town to another with her one-woman show. Slyly funny in her masked onstage persona, Irene is a genial pro at touring alone, phoning home to her husband and child and sleeping in a new hotel every night. Things change when a scooter-driving vagabond named Dries (Willaert) fixes her stalled car. After accepting an invitation to her show, Dries soon appears at every stop on tour as her "randomly selected" audience participant. What develops is a remarkably natural and tender affair between two true eccentrics, their exuberance and playfulness mixing with a mature, mutual longing.

From majestic tree-lines streets and rolling farmland to beachfront factories and smoky pubs, Porte's camera vividly captures northern France, a singularly beautiful region. Moreau and Porte's debut is a lovingly made and deeply personal film. It is also a bittersweet valentine to the intensely intimate (and cruelly transient) nature of love on the road.