Backdrop fallback

Providence

Providence

Share

Providence

"A Movie of Rare Intelligence"

1977

1h 50m

6.6(71 votes)

Drama

Comedy

Overview

On the eve of his 78th birthday, ailing, alcoholic writer Clive Langham spends a painful and sleepless night mentally composing and recomposing scenes for a novel in which characters based on his own family are shaped by his fantasies and memories, alongside his caustic commentary on their behaviour.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

SFP

France•3

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Dirk Bogarde

Dirk Bogarde

Claude Langham

David Warner

David Warner

Kevin Woodford

Ellen Burstyn

Ellen Burstyn

Sonia Langham

Cyril Luckham

Cyril Luckham

Dr. Mark Eddington

John Gielgud

John Gielgud

Clive Langham

Tanya Lopert

Tanya Lopert

Miss Lister

Elaine Stritch

Elaine Stritch

Helen Wiener

Denis Lawson

Denis Lawson

Dave Woodford

Kathryn Leigh Scott

Kathryn Leigh Scott

Miss Boon

Milo Sperber

Milo Sperber

Jenner

Creative team

Directed by: Alain Resnais
Written by: David Mercer
Produced by: Klaus Hellwig
Yves Gasser

Similar Movies

American Beauty

American Beauty

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

The Simpsons Movie

The Simpsons Movie

After Homer accidentally pollutes the town's water supply, Springfield is encased in a gigantic dome by the EPA and the Simpsons are declared fugitives.

Billy Elliot

Billy Elliot

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Before Sunset

Before Sunset

Nine years later, Jesse travels across Europe giving readings from a book he wrote about the night he spent in Vienna with Celine. After his reading in Paris, Celine finds him, and they spend part of the day together before Jesse has to again leave for a flight. They are both in relationships now, and Jesse has a son, but as their strong feelings for each other start to return, both confess a longing for more.

Shoot the Moon

Shoot the Moon

Marcy Meyers is down on her luck. Faced with piling bills, the remnants of a failed marriage, and now an imminent home foreclosure, she has nowhere to turn but to the hope of a miracle. That miracle she finds in Shoot the Moon, a national game show that promises a one in a lifetime chance to win it all. But Marcy's faith in the show comes with a price. As her relationship with her daughter Alice is put to the test, the clock ticks towards a seemingly inescapable fate. Shoot the Moon tells the story of miracles and the extraordinary place they are found.

Merry Good Enough

Merry Good Enough

Lucy has a complicated relationship with her dysfunctional family, but when her mother disappears on Christmas Eve, she must bring her family back together whether she knows it or not.

Longing

Longing

An average, everyday metalworker and volunteer firefighter content in his marriage to his childhood sweetheart finds his emotions unexpectedly stirred when he falls for a pretty waitress from a nearby town.

Capote

Capote

A biopic of writer Truman Capote and his assignment for The New Yorker to write the non-fiction book "In Cold Blood".

Cloudbusting

Cloudbusting

An immigrant from Hong Kong now lives in Los Angeles. He deals with his homesickness and sense of loss after encountering a strange old man.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Emmi Kurowski, a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship. One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged mechanic Ali. Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.

The Killing

The Killing

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

Grill Point

Grill Point

Christian is a presenter at a small radio station. His wife Katrin directs traffic in a car park. Both are friends with Uwe, who runs a fast food kiosk, and Ellen, who works in a perfume shop. Their four lives are stuck in a rut. Until the day Chris and Ellen sleep together and upset the balance of the two couples...

Jhimma 2

Jhimma 2

To celebrate Indu's 75th birthday, the whole gang goes on a foreign trip as chaos ensues between young women and their mother-in-laws.

Good Bye, Lenin!

Good Bye, Lenin!

Alex Kerner's mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happened (as she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.

Model Minority

Model Minority

Kayla, an underprivileged Japanese American 16 year old, endangers her promising future as an aspiring artist when she becomes involved with a drug dealer.

My Salinger Year

My Salinger Year

A college grad takes a clerical job working for the literary agent of the renowned, reclusive writer J.D. Salinger.

Young Adam

Young Adam

A young drifter working on a river barge disrupts his employers' lives while hiding the fact that he knows more about a dead woman found in the river than he admits.

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs

Solange is seriously depressed, and her kindhearted husband, Raoul, makes it his mission to cure her doldrums. After many failed attempts to cheer her up, Raoul hits upon a possible solution: find his wife a lover. Unfortunately, his choice, Stéphane, proves to be just as ineffectual in restoring her flagging spirits. In the end, the gorgeous Solange finds her own, highly problematic tonic to her troubles in the form of a 13-year-old boy.

Atonement

Atonement

A young girl irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.

Recommended Movies

My Girl

My Girl

Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada's father hires Shelly, and begins to fall for her, things take a turn to the worse...

This Is Where I Leave You

This Is Where I Leave You

When their father passes away, four grown, world-weary siblings return to their childhood home and are requested -- with an admonition -- to stay there together for a week, along with their free-speaking mother and a collection of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. As the brothers and sisters re-examine their shared history and the status of each tattered relationship among those who know and love them best, they reconnect in hysterically funny and emotionally significant ways.

The Savages

The Savages

A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.

Wildflower

Wildflower

The story of Bea Johnson from birth to graduation as she navigates life with an intellectually disabled parent and an extended family who can't quite agree on the best way to help.

Young Adult

Young Adult

A divorced writer from the Midwest returns to her hometown to reconnect with an old flame, who's now married with a family.

The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle

A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life.

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

An estranged family gathers together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father.

The Magic of Belle Isle

The Magic of Belle Isle

In an effort to tap into his original talent, a wheelchair-bound author moves to a rural town, where he befriends a single mother and her three kids, who help reignite his passion for writing.

The Thing with Feathers

The Thing with Feathers

Following the death of his wife, a young father's hold on reality crumbles, and a strange presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons.

The People We Hate at the Wedding

The People We Hate at the Wedding

A dysfunctional family that can't seem to get along and get it together reluctantly reunites for a family wedding. As their many skeletons are wrenched from the closet, it turns out to be just what this singular family needs to reconnect.

Boyhood

Boyhood

The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect combination to dominate the corrupt city of Iverstown at will. But the unexpected return of Sam, after years of absence, deeply disturbs the life of the odd couple.

Daddy Longlegs

Daddy Longlegs

After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment in New York. During these two weeks, he must figure out if he wants to act as their father or be their friend. Ultimately, their trip upstate results in complete lawlessness taking over their lives.

Parenthood

Parenthood

The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.

Deep Water

Deep Water

A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.

Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace

Mortimer Brewster, a newspaper drama critic, playwright, and author known for his diatribes against marriage, suddenly falls in love and gets married; but when he makes a quick trip home to tell his two maiden aunts, he finds out his aunts' hobby - killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar!

Death at a Funeral

Death at a Funeral

A myriad of outrageous calamities befalls an eccentric English clan with more than a few skeletons in its closets when the family's patriarch dies an unexpected death.

Nocturnal Animals

Nocturnal Animals

Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation turns violent.

Father Mother Sister Brother

Father Mother Sister Brother

Estranged siblings reunite after years apart, forced to confront unresolved tensions and reevaluate their strained relationships with their emotionally distant parents.

Shirley

Shirley

A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.