La Rivière Espérance

"La Rivière Espérance" is a French TV series, 9 episodes of 90 minutes each, directed by Josée Dayan based on the novel by Christian Signol and shown in 1995 on France 2.

ynopsis

1832, Périgord : Benjamin and Marie are two childhood friends. Benjamin's father is a merchant sailor on the Dordogne River.

One day he says to his son: « When you're 13, I'll take you with me. » He keeps his promise and Benjamin becomes a sailor like his father. But in that circle, you have to be wary of everybody and of what they live for: the Dordogne.

Doing that job was Benjamin's dream, but could that dream become a nightmare? Fights with merchants and sailors sometimes finish off quite uglily. Will he be able to stay loyal to his friend Marie, or will his nightly 'rendez-vous' with Emeline Lombard, daughter of the rich merchant on whom they depend, separate them?

Cast

*Manuel Blanc : Benjamin Donardieu
*Carole Richert : Marie Paradou
*Claire Nebout : Emeline Lombard
*Jean-Claude Drouot : Victorien Donadieu
*Élisabeth Depardieu : Elina Donadieu
*Pascal Greggory : Alexandre Duthil
*Bernard Verley : Arsène Lombard
*Hélène Vincent : Agnès Lombard
*Raoul Billerey : priest of Souillac
*Arnaud Giovaninetti : Pierre Bourdelle
*Jean-Pierre Kalfon : Corentin
*Roger Souza : Félix Marcas
*Aurélien Wiik : Benjamin at 13
*Laura Martel : Marie at 13
*Eugénia Costantini : Emeline at 13
*Stephan Guérin-Tillie : Aubin Donnadieu
*Sandra Speichert : Virginie Duthil
*Philippe Clay : the Duthils' butler
*Jean-Yves Gauthier : Vincent Paradou
*Marianne Epin : Jeanne Paradou
*Eric Averlant : the innkeeper of Libourne
*Quentin Ogier : Jean Paradou
*Thierry Rey : Ghilain Claveille
*François Négret : Jacques Malaurie
*Julie Dumas : Juliette
*Thierry Redler : Louis Lafaurie
*Emmanuelle Meyssignac : Madame Lasalle
*Pierre Hatet : hospital doctor
*Stéphane Boucher : second-in-command Dugay Trouin
*Hans Meyer : commander Dugay Trouin
*Claude Faraldo : Ambroise Debord
*Jean-Louis Tribes : 'La Bourgogne'
*Stéphane Jobert : engineer
*Didier Flamand : 'off' voice (summaries)
*Jennifer Lauret : Virginie at 13

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170511/ IMDb entry]