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

Director:

Jean Becker

Writers:

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

Release Date:

16 September 2011 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Title Same As Book | France | Reference To Albert Camus | Older Man Younger Woman Relationship | Reading Aloud

Awards:

1 win

Cast

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
Bruno Ricci	...	Marco
Lyès Salem	...	Youssef
Sylvia Chiflet-Allegre	...	Cliente supermarché (as Sylvia Allegre)
Bernard Bolzinger	...	L'homme du marché
Amandine Chauveau	...	La mère jeune
Hélène Coulon	...	La bibliothécaire
Guillaume Ferrand	...	Le militaire
Mahé Frot	...	La femme ordinateur
Véronique Hervouet	...	L'employée supérette
Lucie Loue	...	La jeune femme Peupliers
Salah Teskouk	...	Le vieil Arabe
Johanna van der Bruggen	...	Femme accueil maison de retraite
Florian Yven	...	Germain enfant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Serge Larivière

Directed by
Jean Becker

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jean Becker		screenplay
Jean-Loup Dabadie		screenplay
Marie-Sabine Roger		book

Produced by
Louis Becker	....	producer
Gérard Depardieu	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Laurent Voulzy

Cinematography by
Arthur Cloquet

Film Editing by
Jacques Witta

Casting by
Colomba Falcucci

Makeup Department
Olivier Afonso	....	special makeup effects artist
Nicolas Herlin	....	special makeup effects artist
Frédéric Lainé	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Claire Langmann	....	unit production manager
Guillaume Parent	....	post-production supervisor
Augustin Werkoff	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Denis Imbert	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Julien Bourdeau	....	assistant sound editor
Joseph de Laage	....	boom operator
Carl Goetgheluck	....	sound re-recording mixer
François Groult	....	sound re-recording mixer
Vincent Montrobert	....	sound editor

Special Effects by
Olivier Afonso	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Olivier Veau	....	digital compositor

Camera and Electrical Department
Berto	....	camera operator (as Gilbert Lecluyse)
Patrick de Ranter	....	additional camera operator
Nathalie Eno	....	still photographer
Maguelonne Pochon	....	second assistant camera
Alexis Robin	....	video assistant
Philippe Wegiel	....	electrician

Casting Department
Peggy Pasquerault	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Chloe Bartonio	....	set costumer

Editorial Department
Myriam Coën	....	digital conformation
Sophia Del-Vecchio	....	digital conformation
Philippe Tourret	....	digital intermediate coordinator

Music Department
Stéphane Briand	....	score engineer
Stéphane Briand	....	score mixer

Other crew
Amélie Bérard	....	script supervisor
Raphaelle Gassot	....	script supervisor assistant
Guillemette Guyot	....	assistant administrator

Production Companies

• ICE3 (co-production)
• K.J.B. Production (co-production)
• France 3 Cinéma (co-production)
• StudioCanal (co-production)
• DD Productions (co-production)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• France Télévision (participation)
• Département de la Charente-Maritime (support)
• Région Poitou-Charentes (support)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (in partnership with)
• Soficinéma 5 (support)

Distributors

• Atlantic Film (2011) (Finland) (theatrical) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
• CDI Films (2011) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Cinéart (2010) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Cohen Media Group (2011) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• StudioCanal (2010) (France) (theatrical)
• Concorde Filmverleih (2011) (Germany) (all media)
• Film1 (2011) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Imovision (2010) (Brazil) (all media)
• Mongrel Media (2010) (Canada) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2011) (Argentina) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Cinésyl  grip and lighting equipment

Also Known As:

"La tête en friche" - France (original title)

Runtime:

France:82 min | Argentina:82 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Flemish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Netherlands:AL | Ireland:15A | UK:15 | Sweden:7 | Argentina:13 | Germany:6 | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Pons, Charente-Maritime, France

Company:

ICE3

Soundtrack:

Le chanson de Germain

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.