Les Souvenirs (2015)
Directed by Jean-Paul Rouve

Film Review

Not content with being one of France's busiest screen actors, and a much-liked one at that, Jean-Paul Rouve has taken to directing films as a rewarding sideline.  There is absolutely nothing to connect his first two directorial offerings - Sans arme, ni haine, ni violence (2008), a biopic of the gangster Albert Spaggiari, and Quand je serai petit (2012), a quirky comedy-drama in which Rouve (literally) gets in touch with his inner child.  His third feature, Les Souvenirs, is different again, although it is just as prone to heavily laid on sentimentality as its predecessor - indeed its awkward mix of schmaltz and dark humour may be a definite turn-off for some spectators.  (Apparently, some Normandy tourist information offices hand out advice on how to kill yourself - although if you have ever been to Normandy you'll understand why.)

Les Souvenirs is based on a novel by the bestselling author David Foenkinos, who co-scripted the film with Rouve.  If Foenkinos's name rings a bell that is probably because he recently adapted one of his novels for cinema as La Délicatesse (2011), and Rouve's film exhibits many of the weaknesses of this earlier film - a surfeit of good-natured but slightly forced sentimentality and a rambling narrative that struggles to have anything original to say.  On the plus side, the film is eminently well-cast, with two well-regarded stars of French cinema, Michel Blanc and Annie Cordy, lending weight and charm to the thin and mostly predictable plot.  24-year-old Mathieu Spinosi impresses in his first substantial screen role, his scenes with Cordy being particularly heart-warming, poignantly expressive of an inter-generational bond that is seldom given the time and attention it deserves in cinema.

It's alarming to think that Cordy has been appearing in films for over sixty years, first making her mark in the hit comedy Poisson d'avril (1954), in which she starred alongside the comic legend Bourvil.  Since, Cordy has made a name for herself not only as an actress, but also as a very successful singer.  It's almost as hard to believe that it has been forty years since Michel Blanc first forced his comedy persona onto the big screen in such popular fare as Les Bronzés (1978).  And this is essentially what Rouve's film is about - coming to terms with the passage of time and never losing touch with the past.  The transmission of memories down the generations is an essential part of this aspect of human experience, and Rouve's touching, albeit somewhat over-emotional, film makes us realise how important memories are in helping us to cope with time's relentless march.

Film Synopsis

Romain, 23, has hopes of pursuing a career as a writer, but for the time being he works as a night porter in a Parisian hotel.  His father's retirement coincides with the death of his grandfather, and his octogenarian grandmother ends up being shunted into a retirement home, where the old woman is left wondering what she is doing amidst so many decrepit oldsters.  One day, Romain is contacted by his father with the shock news that his grandmother has gone missing, without the least clue as to where she might have gone.  Romain sets out to find her and traces her to the coastal of town of Étretat in Normandy.  Here, a close bond develops between the 85-year-old woman and her barely adult grandson...