The Long Absence

In this drama of lost love, Therese (Alida Valli) is a woman who runs a café in Paris; she lost her husband when he disappeared sixteen years earlier, and, while time has healed some of her wounds, she's still a lonely person. One day, a tramp (Georges Wilson) passes by humming a familiar tune, and Therese is convinced that the vagabond is her husband. She follows him to his home, a tiny shack by the river, and tries to question him about his past. She discovers that the tramp suffers from amnesia and has no clear memory of his past. Therese brings him back to her cafe in hopes of jogging his memory and renewing the love they once knew. Une Aussi Longue Absence was well-received at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the Golden Palm with Luis Buñuel's very different Viridiana.~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide