''I'm Going Home'' (french: Je rentre à la maison, pt, Vou Para Casa) is a 2001 film written and directed by

Manoel de Oliveira Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira (; 11 December 1908 – 2 April 2015) was a Portuguese film director and screenwriter born in Cedofeita, Porto. He first began making films in 1927, when he and some friends attempted to make a film about Wo ...

. It premieres in

2001 Cannes Film Festival The 54th Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 20 May 2001. Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Italian film ''The Son's Room'' by Nanni Moretti. The festival opened with ...

in the main competition.

Plot

The film opens in a theater where

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

's ''

Exit the King ''Exit the King'' (french: Le Roi se meurt) is an absurdist drama by Eugène Ionesco that premiered in 1962. It is the third in Ionesco's "Berenger Cycle", preceded by '' The Killer'' (1958) and ''Rhinocéros'' (1959), and followed by ''A Stro ...

'' is staged. Gilbert Valence, playing the King on stage, is a distinguished actor of theater. In his dressing room he receives the shocking news that his wife, daughter, and son-in-law have been killed in a car accident, and he must bring up their little boy on his own. As time passes, Valence is apparently over his grief. He busies himself with his daily life in Paris and, with help from his housekeeper, looks after his 9-year-old grandson Serge. We see that he plays

Prospero Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, whose usurping brother, Antonio, had put him (with his three-year-old daughter, Miranda) to sea ...

in a French language version of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's '' The Tempest''. As a grand old man of the theater, he turns down well-paying roles in low-brow television productions. However, when an American filmmaker John Crawford urgently needs an actor to play young Irishman

Buck Mulligan Malachi Roland St. John "Buck" Mulligan is a fictional character in James Joyce's 1922 novel '' Ulysses''. He appears most prominently in episode 1 ''(Telemachus)'', and is the subject of the novel's famous first sentence: "Stately, plump Buck ...

, in a film adaptation of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

'' to be shot in Paris (in English) in three days'','' he was pushed into accepting the role. The result of this obvious miscasting becomes apparent during the shoot, and Vance, sensing the language barrier, his ill-preparation and old age, finds himself saying "Je rentre à la maison" and leaving the film set.

Cast

Michel Piccoli Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli (27 December 1925 – 12 May 2020) was a French actor, producer and film director with a career spanning 70 years. He was lauded as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation who played a wide vari ...

as Gilbert Valence *

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...

as Marguerite *

John Malkovich John Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Aw ...

as John Crawford, Film Director * Antoine Chappey as George * Leonor Baldaque as Sylvia *

Leonor Silveira Leonor da Silveira Moreno e Lemos Gomes (born 28 October 1970) is a Portuguese film actress who made her film debut in '' The Cannibals'' for director Manoel de Oliveira in 1988. She appeared in most of Oliveira's subsequent films. She is the d ...

as Marie *

Ricardo Trêpa Ricardo Oliveira de Sousa Trêpa (born 28 October 1972) is a Portuguese film actor. He has appeared in over 25 films and several TV shows since 1990. He is the grandson of Portuguese film director Manoel de Oliveira and has appeared in most o ...

as Guard *

Jean-Michel Arnold Jean-Michel Arnold, (1938 - September 4, 2019) is General Secretary of the Cinémathèque Française, vice President of UNESCO's IFTC (International Council for Film Television and Audiovisual Communication), founder of the Cinéma du Réel, Direct ...

- Doctor *

Adrien de Van Adrien is a given name and surname, and the French spelling for the name Adrian. It is also the masculine form of the feminine name Adrienne. It may refer to: People Given name * Adrien Auzout (1622–1691), French astronomer * Adrien Baillet (16 ...

as Ferdinand *

Sylvie Testud Sylvie Testud (born 17 January 1971) is a French actress hose film career est Actress for ''Fear and Trembling'' (2003), and the European Film Award for Best Actress for ''Lourdes'' (2009). Her other film roles include '' Beyond Silence'' (199 ...

as Ariel *

Isabel Ruth Isabel Ruth (born 6 April 1940) is a Portuguese actress. She has appeared in more than 50 films since 1963. She starred in '' River of Gold'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. Selected filmog ...

as Milkmaid *

Andrew Wale Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

as Stephen *

Robert Dauney The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

as Haines *

Jean Koeltgen Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

as Serge * Mauricette Gourdon as Guilhermine, the Housekeeper

Reception

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 has a 96% approval rating based on 55 reviews, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 7.78/10 and the consensus that it is "a masterfully subtle and poignant exploration of morality." It was one of the films in competition for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

in the

. It won the Critics Award for Best Film at the 2001

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival ( pt, Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. A non-profit event, the festival is organized ...

and the Golden Anchor Award at the 2002

Haifa International Film Festival The Haifa International Film Festival is an annual film festival that takes place every autumn (between late September and late October), during the week-long holiday of Sukkot, in Haifa, Israel. History The festival was inaugurated in 1983 and w ...

. It also won the Globo de Ouro for Best Film at the 2002

Globos de Ouro The Golden Globes ( pt, Globos de Ouro) are awards given each year in Portugal since 1996 by the Golden Globes Academy, made up by professionals of SIC TV and Caras magazine, which award several areas of art and entertainment in the country, ...

was nominated for Best Actor at the 2001

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the most ...

. Anthony Quinn of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' wrote, "Always good to see Michel Piccoli...in Manoel de Oliveira's ''I'm Going Home'' he plays Valence, a grand old stage actor who has recently lost his family...Few cameras stare so intently at things as de Oliveira's, and the long excerpts he films from Ionesco and '' The Tempest'' are frankly ''de trop'', but this patient detailing of an actor's life...has a fascination akin to watching a sun slowly disappear beneath the horizon."

References

External links

* * 2001 films French comedy-drama films Portuguese comedy-drama films 2000s English-language films English-language French films English-language Portuguese films 2000s French-language films Films directed by Manoel de Oliveira Films produced by Paulo Branco Golden Globes (Portugal) winners 2001 comedy-drama films 2000s French films {{Portugal-film-stub