La Petite chambre (2011)
Directed by Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique Reymond

Film Review

An appealing slice-of-life drama, La Petite chambre also offers a thoughtful reflection on one of the most pressing social issues of our time, namely the provision that society and individuals should make for the elderly.  The issue is particularly pertinent at the present time, as the current system of support for the elderly is struggling to cope with the twin challenges of an ageing population and diminishing resources.  In their first film, Swiss directors Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond deliver a moving and provocative film that should hopefully stimulate thought and debate on a subject that will ultimately affect us all and which has yet to be given the focus and commitment it deserves.  Prior to this promising directorial debut, Chuat and Reymond had worked as actresses, the latter having featured in Eric Rohmer's final film Les Amours d'Astrée et de Céladon (2007).

La Petite chambre marks the return of Michel Bouquet, one of the great actors of French cinema, to the big screen after a gap of six years.  Since he played the elderly François Mitterand in Robert Guédiguian's Le Promeneur du champ de Mars (2005), Bouquet has devoted himself to his stage work, but was persuaded to return to the cinema on the strength of Chuat and Reymond's screenplay.  In describing Bouquet's work, it is too easy to lose oneself in a sea of superlatives, but his performance here is particularly praiseworthy and is the main reason for seeing the film.  Whilst the character he plays is anything but sympathetic, he compels us to identify with the solitary old man whose sole desire is to stay as active and independent for as long as possible, putting off that fearful day when he must submit to the care of others.  Bouquet's portrayal hasn't the slightest whiff of pathos or false sentiment, and in his character's frustration and helplessness we can so easily glimpse our own future, painted large on the screen in front of us, a vision that forces us to reflect and empathise more with the plight of those who are nearing the end of life's journey.

Where the film is somewhat less successful is its over-reliance on soap-style contrivances, which weaken its impact and authenticity.  Some of the secondary characters are poorly developed and come across as shallow caricatures (Edmond's self-interested son being a case in point), a fault that is exacerbated by the far-fetched plot, which revolves around the improbable friendship that develops between a diabetic old man and the nurse who cannot get over the loss of her unborn child.  Chuat and Reymond compound the inherent failings in the narrative by resorting to the kind of self-serving dialogue which even today's television soap writers tend to avoid.  Fortunately, such is the quality of the performance from the two leads - Florence Loiret Caille deserves as much credit as Bouquet for her sensitive portrayal of the inwardly tormented Rose - that the deficiencies in the screenwriting are readily excused.

Chuat and Reymond's direction is also far from perfect, but this shows much more promise than their writing and in a few scenes they deliver a powerful emotional jolt with surprising economy and finesse.  In one key scene, Bouquet's character happens across an album containing photographs of his nurse's pregnancy.  The collection of photographs ends not, as it should, with happy images of a newborn baby, but with blank pages, an immense sea of white which poignantly evokes the desolation and sterility of the life of a woman who loses her firstborn in childbirth.  The little room, a nursery turned into a shrine, becomes a potent visual metaphor for Rose's arid life, and it is only by surrendering it to Edmond that she can leave her grief behind her and start to live again. 

La Petite chambre may have its failings on the writing and directing fronts, but, for all that, it is an easy film to engage with,  one that tackles the two tragedies of human experience, death and ageing, with compassion, understanding and some honest brutality.  Its lyrical power and humanity are most keenly felt in its climactic sequence which, amid a setting of extraordinary natural splendour in the Swiss Alps, Chuat and Reymond project us into the soul of a man who is consciously nearing the extremity of his existence and, in doing so, give us a bitter foretaste of the end that awaits us all.  The film concludes not with tears, but with a smile, with the heroine no longer mourning her losses but anticipating the new life that is to come.  It is too easy to become trapped in the little rooms we create for ourselves...

Film Synopsis

Despite his advanced age and the fact that he suffers from diabetes, Edmond is determined to hold onto his independence.  He refuses to move into a retirement home and stubbornly rejects the support of Rose, the young nurse who tries to care for him in his own home.  When Edmond suffers a nasty fall, he has no option but to be admitted to a care home.  Rose can be just as stubborn as Edmond and takes it upon herself to look after the old man in her own home.  Edmond's temperament softens when he learns that Rose is desperately trying to come to terms with the recent loss of her unborn child...