The Things of Life (1970) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The film unfolds across both rural and urban France, moving from the sunlit countryside near a crossroads to hospital corridors in Le Mans, then to Paris and the coastal Île de Ré for a family holiday. A brief reference to a Tunis job suggests Pierre has a life that extends beyond the immediate story. The changing locations mirror the film's exploration of memory and how place shapes a person's decisions.

• france settings
• paris
• le mans
• ile de ré
• countryside
• locations

The narrative is set in the early 1970s, during contemporary France of its era. The period details, social mores, and fashion all ground the story in a specific historical moment, though the film constantly jumps between different moments in time, the crash, its aftermath, and earlier memories, creating a sense that a single event can imply multiple possible futures.

• 1970s
• time period
• era
• contemporary france
• historical context

The film explores three interconnected themes: Love, which drives the tension between Pierre, his lover Hélène, and his estranged wife Catherine; Time, treated as fluid with jumps between the crash's aftermath and the life leading up to it; and Choice, which examines how decisions, both made and unmade, define a person. These themes intertwine to examine what gives life meaning when faced with missed opportunities and unspoken words.

• themes
• love
• time
• choice
• meaning
• life

Love drives the central tension between Pierre, his lover Hélène, and his estranged wife Catherine. The relationship with Hélène represents possibility and future, while Catherine embodies duty and shared history. The film examines how love can both uplift and complicate a life, asking whether love can endure when faced with missed opportunities and words left unsaid.

• love
• relationships
• héline
• catherine
• passion
• duty

Time is treated as fluid in the film, with the narrative constantly jumping between the crash's aftermath and the life leading up to it. The hospital setting becomes a stage for reinterpreting past choices as if they could alter the present. Memory shapes reality, and the story suggests a life is a collection of moments that time both reveals and obscures.

• time
• memory
• non-linear
• past
• present
• timeline

Pierre Bérard is a Paris architect in his forties who navigates between his love for the younger Hélène and his obligations to his estranged wife Catherine and their son Bertrand. The car crash interrupts his journey toward Rennes and forces a reckoning with what truly matters in his life. The narrative follows his inner reflections as he revisits the essential things that make up his existence.

• pierre bérard
• architect
• protagonist
• michel piccoli

Hélène is Pierre Bérard's passionate younger lover, poised for a life together but torn by circumstance. She pursues a future she believes in, racing against time to reach Pierre after learning of his accident. Her presence drives the emotional energy of the story and tests the boundaries of commitment and desire.

• hélène
• lover
• romy schneider
• passion
• commitment

Catherine Bérard is Pierre's estranged wife and the mother of their son Bertrand. She handles Pierre's personal effects after the crash and embodies practicality and the weight of shared history. Her decisive actions, including tearing up an unsent letter to Hélène, significantly affect the story's emotional arc, showing kindness emerging from shared loss.

• catherine bérard
• wife
• lea massari
• estranged wife
• family

The film uses a non-linear timeline that jumps between the crash, its immediate aftermath, and earlier memories. This structural device is central to the film's exploration of time and memory, creating a sense that a single event can imply multiple possible futures. The fragmented structure mirrors how memory works, selective, fluid, and sometimes contradictory.

• narrative structure
• non-linear
• memory
• flashback
• storytelling

The title refers to the essential elements that make up a life, the relationships, choices, memories, and moments that define who we are. Through Pierre's introspective journey during his final hours, the film explores what truly matters when faced with mortality: love, the passage of time, and the weight of decisions made and unmade.

• title meaning
• life
• essential things
• meaning
• reflection