Between Salt and Sweet Water

"Entre la mer et l'eau douce" redirects here. For the Hrsta song of the same name, see Ghosts Will Come and Kiss Our Eyes.

Between Salt and Sweet Water (French: Entre la mer et l'eau douce), also known as Drifting Upstream, is a 1967 Québécois film directed by Michel Brault, co-written by Brault, Gérald Godin, Marcel Dubé, Claude Jutra and Denys Arcand.

Between Salt and Sweet Water
French	Entre la mer et l'eau douce
Directed by	Michel Brault
Written by	Michel Brault Gérald Godin Marcel Dubé Claude Jutra Denys Arcand
Starring	Claude Gauthier Geneviève Bujold Denise Bombardier Robert Charlebois
Cinematography	Michel Brault Bernard Gosselin Jean-Claude Labrecque
Edited by	Michel Brault Werner Nold
Music by	Claude Gauthier
Release date	1967 (1967)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	French

The film also features boxer Ronald Jones in a small role. Jones was one of the subjects of Gilles Groulx's 1961 documentary Golden Gloves.^[1]

Plot

Claude (Claude Gauthier) leaves his small town on the Côte-Nord to go to Montreal, where he works several odd jobs and eventually falls in love with Geneviève (Geneviève Bujold), a pretty waitress who works in a local diner. Claude enters a singing contest that launches his career. As he gradually becomes more well known, he has a brief affair with a married woman and breaks up with Geneviève. He returns to his hometown but nothing seems the same. Back in Montreal, he becomes increasingly more successful as a singer. One night he meets Geneviève backstage, only to learn she is now married, and realizes one can be as lonely in a small town as in a big city.

Cast

• Claude Gauthier as Claude Tremblay
• Geneviève Bujold as Geneviève
• Paul Gauthier as Roger Tremblay
• Denise Bombardier as Denyse
• Robert Charlebois as Ti-Paul
• Louise Latraverse as Aude, la soeur de Claude
• Gérald Godin as Steve
• Reggie Chartrand as Réginald

Additional information

This film has also been released under the following titles:

• Entre la mer et l'eau douce - Canada (original title)
• Zwischen den Welten - Austria (TV title) / East Germany (TV title) / West Germany (TV title)
• Between Sweet and Salt Water - International (English title)
• Drifting Upstream - Canada (English title)
• Mellan hav och stilla vatten - Sweden

Reception

Entre la mer et l'eau douce is widely regarded as Michel Brault's most poetic and richly complex film.^[2]

The film was screened in the Director's Fortnight stream at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.^[3]