''My Afternoons with Margueritte'' (French: ''La Tête en friche'') is a 2010 French film directed by
Jean Becker, based on the book of the same name by
Marie-Sabine Roger
Marie-Sabine Roger (born 19 September 1957, Bordeaux) is a French writer.
Biography
Published for the first time in 1989 in youth literature, Marie-Sabine Roger has not stopped writing since, in very varied registers, picture books and story ...
. It stars
Gérard Depardieu,
Gisèle Casadesus
Gisèle Casadesus (14 June 1914 – 24 September 2017) was a French actress, who appeared in numerous theatre and film productions. She was an honorary member of the Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française, Grand Officer of the Legion of Hon ...
,
Claire Maurier
Claire Maurier (born Odette-Michelle-Suzanne Agramon; March 27, 1929) is a French actress who has appeared in more than 90 films since 1947.
Life and career
Maurier was born Odette-Michelle-Suzanne Agramon on March 27, 1929 in the French commune ...
,
Maurane
Claudine Luypaerts, better known as Maurane (; 12 November 1960 – 7 May 2018), was a Francophone Belgian singer and actress.
Brought to light in the 1980s with her role as Marie-Jeanne in the second version of the rock opera ''Starmania'', ...
, and
François-Xavier Demaison. The film tells the story of an
illiterate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...
man who bonds with an older, well-read woman.
Plot
Germain is a 45-year-old, illiterate handyman. As a child, he was bullied at school for being a slow reader, by both the teachers and other students. His mother kept reminding him that he was clumsy and an unwanted child, and did not give him much love. He is a loyal man, with a good heart. He lives in a trailer he parks close to his mother's house, where he cultivates a vegetable garden. He earns some extra money by selling his vegetables at the weekly farmers' market, borrowing a truck from the bar where he is a regular customer with his friends. His girl friend Annette is a younger woman who drives the local bus; she truly loves this sweet, simple and loving man.
One afternoon Germain meets Margueritte, a delicate, 95-year-old woman who sits on the same bench with him to feed pigeons. He has observed the 19 birds so often that he knows each and has named them. He sees that she is highly educated, and learns she had worked as a scientist with the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
. She lives in a retirement home in the village and reads frequently. They connect over a text from ''
The Plague'' by
Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...
. Because Germain is barely literate, Margueritte starts to read the book aloud to him. Slowly he starts to appreciate the beauty of words and sentences, because he is a good listener and he has a vivid imagination. Germain is affected by the symbolism Camus uses in this
philosophical novel
Philosophical fiction refers to the class of works of fiction which devote a significant portion of their content to the sort of questions normally addressed in philosophy. These might explore any facet of the human condition, including the funct ...
, expanding his horizons. The pair meet every day to continue their reading sessions. A friendship develops. Margueritte eventually gives him her old dictionary. In it he tries to find words that he's interested in, but because he can't spell, he finds the dictionary too frustrating. He decides to return it when Margueritte invites him to her place for tea.
She tells him that her eyesight is gradually fading, and that she will soon no longer be able to walk unassisted. Germain decides to reverse roles and try to read to her, but first he must improve his reading skills. With Annette's support he learns to read a story aloud to Margueritte. Shortly thereafter, Germain finds his mother dead at home, and is distraught.
At the notary, he learns that his mother owned her house, which he had thought she rented. She had accumulated a sizeable fortune from strict saving, and always intended to bequeath that to him, but had never told him. Meanwhile, Annette announces she is pregnant. Germain had hesitated to have children, believing he could not offer them enough. Annette tells him not to worry: he can give love. When Margueritte is forced to leave her retirement home for a lesser one in Flanders, she puts aside her dictionary for Germain. He traces her down and brings her back to live with him at his mother's house. On their return, he reads her a poem written for her.
Cast
*
Gérard Depardieu as Germain Chazes
*
Gisèle Casadesus
Gisèle Casadesus (14 June 1914 – 24 September 2017) was a French actress, who appeared in numerous theatre and film productions. She was an honorary member of the Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française, Grand Officer of the Legion of Hon ...
as Margueritte
*
Claire Maurier
Claire Maurier (born Odette-Michelle-Suzanne Agramon; March 27, 1929) is a French actress who has appeared in more than 90 films since 1947.
Life and career
Maurier was born Odette-Michelle-Suzanne Agramon on March 27, 1929 in the French commune ...
as Jacqueline
*
Maurane
Claudine Luypaerts, better known as Maurane (; 12 November 1960 – 7 May 2018), was a Francophone Belgian singer and actress.
Brought to light in the 1980s with her role as Marie-Jeanne in the second version of the rock opera ''Starmania'', ...
as Francine
*
François-Xavier Demaison as Gardini
*
Anne Le Guernec as Jacqueline
*
Amandine Chauveau as Jacqueline
*
Sophie Guillemin as Annette
*
Florian Yven as Germain
*
Patrick Bouchitey as Landremont
*
Régis Laspalès
Régis Laspalès (born 25 February 1957 in Paris) is a French comedian and actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in mo ...
as M. Bayle
*
Jean-François Stévenin
Jean-François Stévenin (; 23 April 194427 July 2021) was a French actor and filmmaker. He appeared in 150 films and television shows since 1968. He starred in the film ''Cold Moon (1991 film), Cold Moon'', which was entered into the 1991 Canne ...
as Joseph
*
Lyes Salem
Lyès Salem (Arabic: إلياس سالم) (Algiers, 1966) is an Algerian actor and film director.
His first film as director, Masquerades, won several prizes in France.
Filmography
As director
* ''Lhasa'' short 1999
* '' :fr:Cousines'' short. ...
as Youssef
*
Matthieu Dahan Matthieu is a given name or surname. It comes from French Matthieu, which is from Latin Matthaeus, derived from Greek Ματθαῖος (''Matthaios'') from Hebrew מתתיהו (''Matatyahu''), מתיתיהו (''Matityahu''), meaning "gift of the Lo ...
as Julien
*
Bruno Ricci
Bruno may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname
* Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880)
* Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...
as Marco
*
Mélanie Bernier as Stéphanie
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 60 reviews, and an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It's sentimental and treacly, but that's not enough to prevent ''My Afternoons with Margueritte'' from being truly affecting." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
References
External links
*
"1900," C. J. (n.d.). 玛格丽特午后的小诗 Poem read in ''My Afternoons with Margueritte''
{{Jean Becker (director)
2010s French-language films
Films directed by Jean Becker
French comedy-drama films
2010 comedy-drama films
2010 films
Films based on French novels
Films with screenplays by Jean-Loup Dabadie
2010s French films