It’s impossible to understate the value of simplicity in a certain context for example, a story told with disarming clarity that might even leave you feeling mildly optimistic about the human race. French director Jean Becker is no stranger to the creation of a film in this vein as he ably demonstrated with the wonderfully nostalgic Conversations with My Gardener (2007).
His, My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010), follows suit, creating a story unfettered by unnecessary secondary strands that only obscure the film’s primary objective. Gerard Depardieu, in recent years no stranger to dumbing down to inhabit a role note the eccentric, uninhibited genius of Mammuth (2010) for instance is Germain, a much ridiculed figure in his home village where he easily fits into the social set at the local establishment but is considered a bit of a simple fool, tolerated for the sometimes unintentional laughs he provides.
Germain shrugs off the ribbing with ease for he suffers far worse at hands of his raving lunatic of a mother (Claire Maurier) who constantly pounds him with insults. In telling flashbacks to childhood we’re made aware that it’s forever been a one way street; in his formative years Germain suffered cruelly under a barrage of negativity that helped create the man he has or has not become.
Germain savours the simple things in life, like tending his garden, being with his much younger girlfriend (Sophie Guillemin) or hanging out at the local park where pigeons gather, each one designated with an appropriate name. Here he runs into an affable old lady, Margueritte (the amazing 96 year old Gisele Casadesus) reading her books. An easy conversation begins, and over the course of a few meetings, a rapport develops as she teaches him to value himself more as a person as well as introducing him to the pure joy of reading ‘The Plague’ by Albert Camus amongst other landmark works of French literature.
From here the mildly sentimental core of the film matures Germain receives a timely awakening from an unlikely source about the diverse, unconsidered pleasures life can offer. Though he understands that years have been frittered away, Germain is still able to grasp a realisation of there existing time enough to make up some of the lost ground even if the full complexities of literature, for example, may be beyond him.
My Afternoons with Margueritte is as modest as any film you’ll see this year; but don’t be put off by its lack of ambition. This is a small, exquisitely crafted gem, told with acuity and performed at a pitch-perfect level. The support players are all sharp, colourful and sparingly used just as they must be to enhance the film’s swiftness.
It’s true, some border on grotesque caricatures, like Germain’s vile mother, but they lend colour to what feels like an almost flawlessly executed piece of slight, distracting entertainment and just the kind of film to leave you feeling mildly optimistic about the human race.
I say:
A film that lingers for the simple joys of life it brings into focus.
See it for:
The great performances of both Depardieu who is reaching a surprising new peak of creativity and the living wonder of the gorgeous Casadesus, just the kind of grand – or great, great grandmother we’d all love to have.
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