Effroyables jardins (2003)

Director:

Jean Becker

Writers:

Jean Becker (writer)
Jean Cosmos (writer)

Release Date:

26 March 2003 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

French Resistance | Based On Novel

Cast

Jacques Villeret	...	Jacques Pouzay
André Dussollier	...	André Designy
Thierry Lhermitte	...	Thierry Plaisance
Benoît Magimel	...	Emile Bailleul
Suzanne Flon	...	Marie Gerbier
Isabelle Candelier	...	Louise
Bernard Collins	...	Bernd (as Bernie Collins)
Damien Jouillerot	...	Lucien, le fils de Jacques
Victor Garrivier	...	Félix Gerbier
Nina-Paloma Polly	...	Françoise
Michael Hanemann	...	Feldwebel
Manfred Andrae	...	Major
Gerald Alexander Held	...	Officier SS (as Alexander Held)
Jean-Claude Durand	...	Raoul
Michel Cordes	...	Patron tir

Also Known As:

Strange Gardens (International: English title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | France:U | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Larnage, Drôme, France

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

The German clown in the film is based on Bernhard Wicki. The memoir entitled "In Our Strange Gardens", on which this film is based, is dedicated to him.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Jacques Villeret and André Dussollier are, at the beginning of the film, throwing bottles of Riesling they just bought on a Nazi train. When the bottles break on the train, we can see red liquid splashing. Riesling is white wine.

Strange Gardens but a Moving Film

I saw this film just a couple of days ago on the Hamburg Film Festival together with a crowd of, say, only 50 other people with good taste. Okay, French with English subtitles is not the usual stuff for most Germans which are used to dubbed films....

This film is about a boy, about this boy's father, this boy's father's friends and the story of their lives, set during WW II and the late 50s.

What I had expected was a drama or even a tragedy, very heavy and not easy to digest. What I got was a most wonderful film with light moments, sad ones, funny ones, heavy ones, and above all terrific actors. Namely Jacques Villeret and André Dussollier are amazing, there is great chemistry between them as best mates during difficult times.

I haven't read the book by Michel Quint which seems to be a best seller in France - that's what the director Jean Becker said, he was present at the screening I saw - but I leafed through it and I believe they changed a few characters' names...

Anyway, if you have the chance to see this rare jewel, do so! Even if stories from WW II are not your cup of tea, this one you shouldn't miss.