Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Dreadfully Boring

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

For a while, this admittedly talky film (the title is quite accurate, it is mostly conversations) bored me a bit. While the two actors are terrific, the stakes didn't seem very high, and some of the talk seemed too 'easy' in it's wisdom; the working class gardener imparting what's really important in life to the upper-class artist. Not a new concept. But this is one of those films that gains it's power by accumulation, and by the end of the film, when life has intervened in more dramatic ways, as it inevitably does, I found myself quite touched, if not deeply moved, and looking back on the whole experience of the film with a wistful fondness.

I read about this movie, and so deeply interested about the story line that I had to go and watch this flick. I do not understand French, nor the Dutch sub-titles. What I did was tried to search for sub-titles in English on the internet. Could not find one, so downloaded the sub-titles in Spanish, translated them to English and read the whole script of sub-titles before going for the movie. Surely it did not make much sense, but I depended on my memory to recollect the discussions between the painter and the gardener. Coming back home, I again re-read the sub-title script and recollected the images. That is how I saw and understood the movie. Though silly, that was the only and my way of doing enjoying this masterpiece.The story is simple – a famous painter Dupinceau (Daniel Auteuil) is fed up with life in Paris and has decided to move back to his village home to paint. He hires a gardener Dujardin (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) who turns out to me school class mate. A whole lifetime has passed from where they started at school – remembering a prank the students played on their teacher's birthday cake. They share their journey of life with each other – through casual talks. The painter and gardener both experts in their fields are unique, in their perception of seeing things and understanding. Both of them become close friends – and with ailing health of gardener, the painter takes him to Paris for treatment. A few years later when the gardener dies, the painter fulfills his wishes by drawing the common things of his gardener's life – to capture those memories of happiness and joys.The simplicity of plot and the depth of discussion is so appealing that one fills fulfilled by just listening the gardener and painter talk – you wish their talk would never end. This inspiring interest is created by Daniel and Jen-Pierre in living their roles perfectly on screen.Seventy year old Director Jean Becker, who has also partly written the story takes us through this varied journey of life's mysteries without letting us know that.The innocent wittiness of gardener's amazement and questions posed to the painter are the highlight of the movie – that bring enlightenment of seeing things differently for painter and also for us.The background musical score is spare, but wherever it is used, it is effective. There are a few sub-plots, but the movie does not digress from the main theme, and kudos to that track.The most moving scene for me was when the two friends go for fishing, catch a big fish and then leave it back in the water alive and free again. Wonderful! There are so many dialogues in questions, answers and casual exchanges – that resonate with our souls. The last words of the gardener would ring in our hearts for years – I would like that you painted something that I liked. And in the end - the painter does… A classic, not to be missed – only recommended for those who are willing to know their souls (Stars 7.25 out fo 10)

* possible spoilers*It's too easy to dismiss this film as a gentle piece of feelgood cinema. The characterisations are more subtle than that, especially the gardener, who's much more than just an idealised peasant. He's a man who's aware of the limitations of his life and doesn't see anything wrong with them, and every seemingly cracker-barrel remark challenges the assumptions of the middle-class painter, often deliberately. Arguably the painter is a more cliché figure, I certainly felt I'd met him before in French movies, but that is kind of the point - he's been living a received version of the artistic life. I really enjoyed this film - be prepared for some moving moments towards the end, I wouldn't bill it as a comedy really. My one reservation is about the very last moments, which, though touching, seemed to re-assert the superiority of the artist in a way I wasn't quite comfortable with, as if the gardener's only purpose had been to revitalise the artist's career. Auteuil is good as you'd expect, but Jean-Pierre Darroussin is amazing, it's worth seeing the film for his performance alone. One of those actors who just doesn't seem to be acting.

With Les Enfants du Marais Jacques Becker made a great film that reminded us of Marcel Pagnol (when I said as much to him last night when he attended a screening of this, his latest release, he was gracious enough to say I had paid him a great compliment) and now he has made an equally wonderful film that is slightly reminiscent of Michael Radford's Il Postino; reminiscent it that it celebrates a friendship between a simple workman and a sophisticated artist but different in that here the two men had been school-friends before going their separate ways, whilst in Il Postino they met only when thrown together in adulthood. This is simply one of the most lyrical, deceptively simple films of the last several years and I have no hesitation in bracketing it with other 'small' films that have moved me immeasurably such as Brodeuses, Se Souvenirs des belles choses, Venus Beaute etc. If there is any truth in the claim made by one reviewer that Becker tends to divide critics and public then am I definitely with the public although I do enjoy films about Paris intellectuals as well as films like this one. Unbelievably it has yet to find a distributor in England and it may well be that English distributors read and are influenced by negative French critics. If so, shame on them, for this deserves to be screened at every cinema in the land.