Sometimes a film comes along that is so beautiful that you simply fall in love with it the first time you watch it. That is certainly the case with My Afternoons With Marguerite, a film that doesn’t need bad language or raunchy sex to sell itself. It’s rests on its laurels of having a great script and a brilliant cast to easily win over its audience.
Germain (Gerard Depardieu – Potiche, Glenn: The Flying Robot) is a lovable loser. His whole life has been held back by the fact that his mother, Francine (Maurane – Les grands gamins, Palais Royal!) despises him. Unable to read properly Germain has been teased his whole life. Things should be looking up for Germain. He has a girlfriend, Annette (Sophie Guillemin – L’essential feminine, Sisters) who loves him, the only problem is that Germain doesn’t realise just how much she does love him. It actually takes a chance meeting with the elderly, Marguerite (Gisele Casadesus – Sarah’s Key, Porteur d’hommes) for Germain to begin to realise that his life is actually worth something.
It is genuinely impossible not to find yourself getting emotionally affected by My Afternoons With Marguerite. Director, Jean Becker (Love Me No More, Conversations With My Gardiner) is a real storyteller. The story flows well without ever becoming bogged down and the character of Germain is so well written that you can’t help but falling in love with him from the very beginning. The scenes with his mother, when she is putting him down, are extremely upsetting so it is a relief to see him have someone nice like Marguerite come into his life. The only thing that really jars within the film is that the Gerard Depardieu pairing with Sophie Guillemin is as wrong as seeing Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery together in Entrapment. The role of Annette really needed to be made older to match the casting of Depardieu.
Having said that though both actors are terrific in their roles. Depardieu puts in an amazing performance that deserves to earn him awards while Sophie Guillemin steals many a scene. Depardieu puts in a performance of character-acting at its very best, and he really does prove that he is France’s finest actor going around. Meanwhile, Sophie Guillemin puts in the performance of her life, surely she must have Hollywood knocking at her door by now.
If you love beautiful French films than My Afternoons With Marguerite is a must for you. This is an amazing film that will win over audiences of all ages.
Year: 201o
Director: Jean Becker
Stars: Gerard Depardieu, Maurane, Sophie Guillemin, Gisele Casadesus
Classification: CTC
Runtime: 82 mins
Rating: 