CONVERSATIONS WITH MY GARDENER. Dir Jean Becker. 2007

Image result for movie images conversations with my gardener

Subtle, simple story written and directed by Becker about male friendship in rural France. A middle-aged, middle-class Parisian artist (Daniel Auteuil) returns to his boyhood home in the country – he is separated from his wife, his girlfriend has been cheating on him and his relationship with his daughter is strained. Both his parents now dead, he escapes from the difficulty of relationships with women and settles into his old family home to paint.

He decides to breathe life into the place again and advertises for a gardener to restore the extensive gardens. (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) arrives on a rickety looking velo, and the two men recognize each other from early days at school. They seem only to have their shared beginning in common, their experiences and outlook on life are so different, but the two men become friends, gradually understanding each other’s perspective and developing a frank intimacy.

Although ultimately the artist’s journey is one of redemption and transformation, there is delightful humour, poignancy, and quiet philosophy without sentimentality. Becker has drawn performances of very natural ease from Auteuil and Darroussin, the pace is as leisurely as summer in the country, and makes a charming, touching film.

Comments

GLORIOUS 39. Dir Stephen Poliakoff. 2009

Glorious 39 strips away illusions. Poliakoff presents the apparent idyll of an English aristocratic family headed by genteel patriarch Lord Keyes (Bill Nighy). He presides over a country estate in Norfolk and his elegant townhouse in London – a world of golden light, romantic ruins, servants, house parties and happy children. But this is 1939, a mere 21 years since the Great War, the war to end all wars, in which millions died, Britain was crippled with war debt, and the English country house system which he so values was almost annihilated. There are many references to the ancientness of his family and tradition, but now, few male servants remained alive or unmaimed to work the English landscape or to be in service to the old families. Fearing domestic and political upheaval, appeasers such as Keyes sought to prevent Churchill leading the country and taking Britan to war, and to buy off Hitler to preserve British cultural and national identity. Nighty is excellent, contro...

MAN ON WIRE. Dir James Marsh. 2008

Enthralling documentary about young Frenchman Philippe Petit, whose breathtaking audacity gets Enthralling documentary about young Frenchman Philippe Petit, whose breathtaking audacity gets him arrested for the ‘artistic crime of the century.’ Man on Wire has a strong theme of destiny throughout. Magician and unicyclist, the teenage Philippe sees a magazine article about the building of the twin towers of the World Trace Center in New York. At that moment his life’s purpose is clear. Everything he does is focused upon this one aim: to wire walk between the two buildings, half a mile above ground level. As bold and daring as a bank raid, the team manages to get onto the top floor of the Twin Towers, ready for the attempt. Film maker James Marsh uses archive footage, photographs, interviews, recreations and graphics to conjure up a dizzying, exhilarating film. Refreshingly dismissive of rules, Philippe has no time or patience for limits and restrictions. Driven by his pa...

Running ‘till your nipples bleed

An email from a friend of mine arrives; she complains that, at work, she is routinely subjected to gruesome accounts of female colleagues’ intimate medical procedures and gynaecological problems. I am all commiseration because I, too, have had years of listening to workplace chats about periods, childbirth and sex lives. Oh please. Later, I wander off for a walk in the early evening sunshine and it is so silent and so beautiful that I flop down on the grass and lay awhile gazing out over the rolling fields, and the mouth of the river, and fall into a reverie. Two men pass by. A few minutes later sounds of women’s talk float nearer and, by the time the two females of the species draw level with me, I have risen up from my deliciously recumbent position in the meadow, alert and tense, something like a meerkat. “I do feel for her. Going down that IVF route is such an emotional roller coaster. I was never prepared for how terrible it was going to be.” I remain frozen in my meerkat position...

Just For Lookin' Thru

Search This Blog