An average movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Jean Becker and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might  as well check it out. Becker, son of Jacques Becker, a really illustrious French director, was a little bit like a French version of Terrence Malick. Indeed, he started in the 60’s, pretty much disappeared for 30 years during which he made only one movie, and he became suddenly quite prolific when he was almost 70 years old. Coming back on our main feature, well, to be honest, even if it was rather harmless, I’m afraid it wasn’t really good after all. I mean, the material actually did have some potential and I wonder what a director like Akira Kurosawa could have done with it. The point was that, on the surface, it seemed to be a really simple story (indeed, when you think about it, nothing much really happened after all) and, yet, there was something quite complex and intriguing about Germain Chazes, Margueritte Vandeveld and their relationship. And, indeed, there were some moments which worked really well and I wish they managed to maintain this vibe. Unfortunately, way too often, they would switch to some silly cartoonish scenes just to get some cheap laughs which was rather lame and disappointing. I also think that Germain and Margueritte were rather poorly developed after all as they both remained too stereotypical through the whole duration. On top of that, I always had a weak spot for Gérard Depardieu, he can be such a fascinating actor but, here, half of the time, he was actually rather weak. I mean, I have to admit that it was tough to play some rough blue-collar guy who had a fascination with books but also had a rather limited vocabulary and general knowledge, it was a tricky balancing act and I’m afraid that Depardieu never really nailed it, at least, not convincingly. I was also so surprised to see again Sophie Guillemin. Indeed, more than 20 years ago, I saw her in ‘L'Ennui’ and ‘Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien’, I thought she was quite mesmerizing in these 2 movies and it was so cool to see her again after all these years. However, a few seconds later, I was appalled to find out that she was actually playing Depardieu’s love interest in this movie. Seriously, not only there was a cringe-inducing 30 years age gap between them but there was no way this pathetic loser would manage to bag the cutest girl of his village. Anyway, to conclude, I guess my rating might be a little bit harsh here but, even though it wasn’t awful, the end-result was still rather weak and I don’t think it is really worth a look after all.