- Director : Jean Becker
- Run time : 1 hour and 23 minutes
- Release date : April 19, 2022
- Actors : GÉRARD DEPARDIEU
- Studio : Cohen Media Group
- Number of discs : 1
My Afternoons with Margueritte takes the type
of feel-good narrative expected to come from Hollywood but approaches it with a
European sensibility. There are no big emotional speeches or contrived
relationships. Everything feels grounded and lacking the melodramatic trappings
one might expect. Even when sad or tragic events occur, they are handled with
subtlety and play in an understated manner.
Gérard Depardieu
carries the film as Germain, a simple-minded aging man living in a small French
town. Germain often has his intelligence ridiculed by the locals, as he has
remained nearly illiterate following a difficult childhood being criticized by
teachers and his abusive mother. Even though he has a loving younger girlfriend
(Sophie Guillemin) and is friends with many of the locals, it isn’t until Germain
has a chance encounter with an older woman that he starts to believe in
himself.
Margueritte (Gisèle Casadesus) is a
95-year-old lover of literature, who spends her free days on a park bench where
she meets Germain. After the unlikely pair strike up conversation, Germain is
inspired to develop intellectually. Margueritte inspires him to start reading
while Germain provides her with the friendship she has been missing. Suddenly
Germain’s interactions with the locals that have always thought him a fool begins
to change as well.
At only 83-minutes, My Afternoons
with Margueritte can feel somewhat slight. It is an enjoyable film with well-developed
characters, but the plot is overly simplistic. There isn’t much time to develop
real conflict so much as establish context for the character choices. This
doesn’t make it a bad film, but it also doesn’t make it memorable beyond a pleasant
viewing.
Entertainment Value:
6.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 7/10
Historical
Significance: 3/10
Special Features: 0/10
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