My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010)
"La tête en friche" (original title)

An illiterate and lonely man bonds with an older and well-read woman.

Director:

Jean Becker

Writers:

Jean Becker (screenplay), Jean-Loup Dabadie (screenplay),

Stars:

Gérard Depardieu, Gisèle Casadesus, Maurane

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gérard Depardieu	...	Germain Chazes
Gisèle Casadesus	...	Margueritte
Maurane	...	Francine
Patrick Bouchitey	...	Landremont
Jean-François Stévenin	...	Jojo
François-Xavier Demaison	...	Gardini
Claire Maurier	...	La mère
Sophie Guillemin	...	Annette
Mélanie Bernier	...	Stéphanie
Matthieu Dahan	...	Julien
Jérôme Deschamps	...	Le maire
Gilles Détroit	...	Dévallée
Régis Laspalès	...	M. Bayle
Anne Le Guernec	...	La mère jeune
Jean-Luc Porraz	...	Le notaire

Storyline

An illiterate and lonely man bonds with an older and well-read woman.

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Plot Keywords:

title same as book | france | reference to albert camus | older man younger woman relationship | reading aloud | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French Flemish

Release Date:

16 September 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

My Afternoons with Margueritte

Filming Locations:

Pons, Charente-Maritime, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

ICE3, K.J.B. Production, France 3 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Le chanson de Germain"
Performed by Gérard Depardieu

User Reviews

You may want to stay with her forever.

A film like Jean Becker's My Afternoons with Margueritte spoils me with a lyricism found not just in a small French provincial town filled with eccentric, lovable characters but also in sentiment propelled by exquisite words found in Camus and Romain Gary. And an odd couple who find love that is sometimes not named.

In perhaps a nod to Harold and Maude, Germain (Gerard Depardieu), a 50 year old non reader, meets in the park with 90 year old Margueritte (Gisele Casadesus), who initially reads to him from Camus' The Plague. As she awakens his interest in reading, his life changes, not the least of which is finding a loving mother figure for the abusive real one. Or maybe discovering Leonard Cohen's Suzanne.

So much more is layered in this romantic story: a Cheers-like café where love and disrespect, the two poles of sentiment in the film, play out in a way that exalts the affection even in the hardest of relationships; a traditional love affair for Germain with the younger Francine (Maurane) that may turn around the story's primary January-May motif but parallels it in the deeply loving relationship that seeks to perpetuate itself.

So much of My Afternoons is about renewal and rebirth, and so little is about death that the formula for too old to be young no longer applies. Nor does my expectation to be grossed out by Depardieu's enormous girth, a sad counterpoint to his dashing younger days. But wait, his weight is perfect for the role, his lines read with such understated beauty as to shout, "Where have you been, Gerard?" The bear-like man revealing a daisy-like affect is poetically perfect for the story.

If you expect the film to follow a formula, you will be correct, except maybe for the ending which confirms the motif of unnamed love conquering all. Actually, the film makes you cry for more of the odd-couple romantic formula.

As for the transforming power of books, Abe Lincoln had a witty take on the subject: "The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read." Change that to "woman" and you have My Afternoons with Margueritte.