A sleepy village clustered around a harbour near Marseille is the setting for this intriguing family drama, setting the pace of modern life against something gentler and kinder. And the gentle pace of the movie itself gives some clue to which side of the divide the director lies on.
Once a thriving community, the village now has a preponderance of holiday homes. Maurice, one of the few remaining of the old guard, suffers a paralysing stroke and his middle aged children gather to discuss what's to be done about his care. Armand has stayed on, running the family restaurant, true to his father's ideas of catering for the people. Joining him are Joseph and Angele, the former a cynical, depressed, redundant academic, the latter a successful stage actor who hasn't been back for over twenty years following the tragic death of her daughter.
Events pull them together and pull them apart, revealing deep bonds and equally deep divisions from the past. The characters reveal their pasts, their fears, and hopes for the future. There's also interactions with Maurice's elderly neighbours, their successful son Yvan, Joseph's much younger lover Berangere, and young fisherman Benjamin who is obsessed with Angele. Add in death, love, refugees and armed soldiers and there is plenty going on to enlarge our knowledge of the siblings, and for them to ponder on their own failures and successes, and for the future to change before their eyes.
With hardly any soundtrack the film allows the audience to judge mood for themselves, to fel along with the people on screen without musical manipulation. There are a few bum notes. Benjamin is the least believable of the characters, while the soldiers feel like add ons to the plot. But overall it's a beautifully balanced film, drama and introspection well mixed, although not much by way of great visual moments. There are strong performances from Jean-Pierre Darrousin as the caustic Joseph and Ariane Ascaride as the wounded Angele.
Thoughtful, thought provoking and very enjoyable.
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