Jardins en automne (2006)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Otar Iosseliani

Writer:

Otar Iosseliani (scenario)

Release Date:

6 September 2006 (France)

Genre:

Comedy

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Séverin Blanchet	...	Vincent, le ministre
Jacynthe Jacquet	...	Barbara, la balayeuse
Otar Iosseliani	...	Arnaud
Lily Lavina	...	Mathilde, la rousse
Denis Lambert	...	Gégé, le bistrotier
Michel Piccoli	...	Marie, la mère de Vincent
Pascal Vincent	...	Théodière, le deuxième ministre
Salomé Bedine-Mkheidze	...	L'ex-fiancée
Christian Griot	...	L'huissier
Mathias Jung	...	Le chauve
Albert Mendy	...	Le chef africain
Muriel Motte	...	La maîtresse
Mouna Ndiaye	...	Delphine
Emmanuel de Chauvigny	...	Le pope (as Manu de Chauvigny)
Jean Douchet	...	Le père de l'huissier

Also Known As:

Gardens in Autumn (USA) (festival title)
I giardini in autunno (Italy)

Runtime:

France:115 min | Argentina:115 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival) | USA:115 min

Country:

Italy | France | Russia

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Argentina:13 | Netherlands:AL | Czech Republic:U

Filming Locations:

France

Company:

Pierre Grise Productions

Jacques Tati without the punch line

Otar Iosseliani's Gardens in Autumn is about the transitoriness of political power and the necessity of enjoying a simple life; it takes a cynical view of socialism and mob rule, and seems to advocate living quietly and unpretentiously outside the bourgeois mainstream (though an apartment in the middle of Paris is a perk not to be sniffed at, if available), having plenty of girlfriends, drinking a lot, and cultivating a panoply of colorful eccentrics as your friends.

The main character, Vincent (Séverin Blanchet), is a French minister of something or other, with a spendthrift wife; mass demonstrations lead to his ouster, and he is happier without all his possessions and his powers and his ruinously acquisitive spouse.

Michael Piccoli is in drag very funnily and successfully as the main character's aging maman.

There are running themes. Certain animals, paintings and people constantly recur. Eet's all very surreal. Iosseliani is a Georgian (former USSR) but this movie reflects a mellow director besotted with French culture, a French sense of comedy, often sans paroles (without words, as in traditional French cartoons) and reminiscent of Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot pantomimes. Unfortunately, there are words, and that spoils things, as does the repetitiousness of the narrative.

There's much sweetness and mellowness here – but ultimately it seems to have fumbled the ball in its satire, which Tati never did. For those not tuned in, almost interminably long at a full two hours. That it is remarkable for its consistency of vision justifies its inclusion in the selective New York Film Festival, but it will not prove the most memorable of the NYFF 2006 list.