THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – MUST SEE
After my crimecomedy that plays with irony and theatricality, based on the play of the same name (1934) by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil, François Ozon vows sobriety to tell the daily life of an old woman, in the autumn of her life. Michelle (Hélène Vincent), a quiet grandmother, lives her retirement in the countryside of a Burgundy village, a few kilometers from her best friend, Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko), whose son is in prison. He looks forward to the All Saints’ holidays to spend a week with his grandson, whom his daughter (Ludivine Sagnier) has to come and drop off.
Beyond the desire to film actresses of a certain age who are not rejuvenated with botox or hyaluronic acid injections, François Ozon strives to show the daily actions of people over 80, elegant enough to manage a house and entertain their family. family but still vulnerable. in whom cinema is not very interested. Michelle has a series of tasks to fulfill: she takes care of her garden, she takes her friend, who doesn’t have a permit, by car, she prays on Sundays in church, she prepares the food, she makes the bed…
By placing this meticulous observation in the shadow of the thriller, the filmmaker produces a unique and very precise image of old age, supported by the question of desire… How to make your life exciting, at least livable, when you no longer work and that we are far from our loved ones? To what extent can we arrange with destiny to get a corner in the sun? Essentially confined at home, with a few trips to the hospital and the cemetery, made up of a succession of hollow moments, When autumn comes presents its heroine as an enigma.
poisoned harvest
Despite a staging that is sometimes fooled by the filmed appearances of good living in the countryside, strong references – a sermon about Mary Magdalene – and a ghost covered in white powder, there is at the origin of This plot has a track of immorality that makes it very exciting. Michelle, like most of Ozon’s female characters, turns out to be more ambiguous than preconceptions would lead us to believe. It all starts with a story of mushrooms cooked and served with love. After an argument that left the grandmother and her grandson in knots, only the mother eats her portion and, a few hours later, faints. EMERGENCIES. Stomach lavage. The crop was poisoned.
This exordium that makes her doubt maternal love and inspires Michelle with the idea that a world without her daughter could be simpler – no more requests for donations, no more reproaches, no more anger – makes us think about Novel of a cheater (1936), by Sacha Guitry. For the record, a boy deprived of mushrooms for stealing from the checkout at the family supermarket was the only one who survived and vowed to succeed, even if it meant being dishonest.
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