Film Review
In essence,
Sous le figuier
is the sunny counterpart to Michael Haneke's
Amour
(2012). Both films deal with the same grim subject, the
acceptance of death through old age, but do so in completely different
ways. In contrast to the relentlessly gloomy tone of Haneke's
film, director Anne-Marie Etienne opts for a far more upbeat approach
and turns in an engaging feel-good piece that sets out to persuade us
that death isn't necessarily the infernal drama it is often made out to
be. Whilst the film has its failings, most notably an irksome
tendency to dip into saccharine sentimentality of the worst kind, it
also has considerable charm and helps to restore some poetry and
dignity to the phenomenon of a natural human death, which has lately
become the hideous, life-sapping bogeyman of modern cinema.
For her fourth feature, the actress-turned director Anne-Marie Etienne
assembles an amiable cast, with veteran actress Gisèle Casadesus
taking pride of place as the central heroine, an elderly woman eager to
impart her wisdom to the angst-ridden youngsters who adopt her before
she shuffles off her mortal coil. Casadesus is something of an
acting legend, having made her film debut in the early 1930s and, after
an active stage and screen career, she is still keen to keep her hand
in as she serenely approaches her one hundredth birthday. No one
can forget her memorable turn in Jean Becker's
La Tête en friche (2010),
an enchanting true-to-life performance that redeems an otherwise
undistinguished film, and she pulls off a similar minor miracle in
Etienne's film.
Even with such a distinguished ensemble around her, one that includes
such talented performers as Anne Consigny, Marie Kremer and Jonathan
Zaccaï, Gisèle Casadesus cannot help stealing the focus
whenever she comes into shot. The soap-style dialogue often rings
exceedingly hollow when it dribbles out of the mouths of her co-stars, but
it has a truthful resonance when it trips lightly off the lips of
Casadesus. Subtle and sophisticated it may not be, but
thanks mainly to the presence of its remarkable leading lady,
Sous le figuier is a life-affirming
little film that warms the heart and goes some way to taking the sting
out of a subject that most writers and filmmakers (sadly) still regard
with abject morbidity.
© James Travers 2013
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Film Synopsis
Nathalie, Christophe and Joëlle are all in the midst of a mid-life
crisis. Nathalie has given up on men and devotes herself
religiously to her work as a chef. Christophe's time and energy
are monopolised by this three young daughters whom he struggles to
bring up. Unhappy with her partner, Joëlle spends more of
her time working as a volunteer in a retirement home, neglecting her
daughter as she does so. Brought together by Selma, who is 95 and
terminally ill, these three unfulfilled individuals will spend a
memorable summer on the banks of the Moselle. How ironic that the
one whom they had intended to help to die should help them to live...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.