Claude Goretta has made many films (mostly for TV) but I've seen only three, and liked only one: L'Invitation, a witty and stylish look at Swiss bourgeois values. His heavy-handed left-wing politics are very stale now; La provinciale is of interest only to film historians and fans of Nathalie Baye who would like to see her youthful work. The story is very weak and episodic, disjointed scenes are set up to chart the downward course of a young woman who leaves her native Lorraine to look for work in Paris. Bruno Ganz is the love interest; bearded and ardent, he provides some energy. Angela Winkler holds down two jobs: actress and prostitute. She's not good at one and we can only guess how she can support herself at the other; Goretta is unwilling to show us her work in the sack.
There is more of the TV soap than the feature film in this work. I watched Nathalie Baye with great enjoyment as she went through her paces--the cross-country run at the château was very well done, her scorn came through very well,as did the love of her homeland and the choral singing she did there.
