Sentimental Destinies

The narrative spans the early 1900s, including World War I and the interwar years up to the 1929 slump. Jean serves at the front during the war, altering family dynamics and priorities upon his return. The period’s economic and social upheavals drive the characters to reassess vocation, wealth, and tradition.

The story unfolds in a rural Swiss setting anchored by a family-owned business and a secluded chalet. The alpine backdrop frames the characters’ lives, emphasizing privacy, judgment, and close-knit community norms. This environment tests loyalties and ambitions, highlighting how place shapes choices and constraints.

💔 Love

Love disrupts duty and happiness as Jean abandons his pastoral calling for Pauline. The affair fractures the Nathalie-Jean marriage and tests family loyalty amid a judgmental community. The relationships reveal the tension between personal happiness and social expectation. The narrative shows how love reshapes destinies and loyalties across generations.

💼 Business

The Barnery family business sits at the center of tension between tradition and modernization. Jean is urged to lead with a mandate to innovate, even as conservative forces resist change. Economic hardship, labor strain, and shifting profits pressure the family’s cohesion. Wealth and status become fragile under the weight of ambition and misfortune.

🪖 War

World War I interrupts ordinary life as Jean serves the front while Pauline cares for wounded soldiers. The war recalibrates priorities between public duty and private happiness. Postwar, efforts to modernize clash with the scars of conflict and a fragile economy. The conflict exposes the limits of control over fate and business.

🙏 Faith

Religious life threads through the family’s story, with Jean’s initial vocation giving way to a life of partnership and business. Nathalie’s struggle with the pastor’s role underscores the friction between faith and personal reality. Aline’s later choice to become a Protestant deaconess adds another facet to faith and identity. The film suggests that spiritual paths can redefine family dynamics and loyalties.