David O'ConnellThe Grocer's Son
June 16th 2009 03:16
Returning to your roots after a lengthy absence is never easy, fraught with possible complications of raising ghosts of the past from their resting places. In Eric Guirado’s The Grocer’s Son (2007), Antoine Sforza (Nicolas Cazale) is impelled by a sense of duty when his father suffers a heart attack, leaving a door open for his return to the family’s humble grocery, in the interim at least. It means abandoning a job as a waiter he hates anyway but confronting a man who has long considered his defection to Paris from their home in Provence a convenient escape route and personal affront.
Antoine's independent life has been a failure, his loftier ambitions cut off at the knees by a combination of trying circumstances, stiffer than expected competition, and general apathy. But to appease his mother (Jeanne Goupil) he agrees to fill in for his ailing father (Daniel Duval) whilst he recuperates; it means negotiating a daily run in a van through the scenic villages where the old and infirm flock to buy their daily groceries.
Surly and irascible, Antoine’s half-hearted efforts are further hampered by the antipathy that surges back upon revisiting these timeless rural surrounds with its sedentary living; upon completing his first run, he can only declare that “it reeks of death around here”, and the locals are not exactly thrilled by the appearance of a new face after years of familiarity with his father, many remembering Antoine with little fondness from his childhood.
Pivotal to reviving intimate connections with his roots is a stranger to these parts: Claire (Clotilde Hesme), a mature aged student and his Parisian neighbour who he lusts after but finds unapproachable. Antoine suggests a change of scenery for her as she slogs through an arduous, self-imposed study regime and she agrees to tag along. She soon proves to be a breath of fresh air, her glorious smile and vivacious personality helping smooth over relations with the locals as she accompanies him on his daily run, even sparking an impulsive paint-job on the rundown van.
The earthy visual approach and rustic scenery help offset the modest designs of Guirado’s film which strips life bare to its simplest components. There’s a directness that rings true in his ruminations on very familiar resentments and the wedge they place between family members - an element that most people could easily relate to.
Cazale is excellent as the young man whose career has floundered, returning full circle to a place he thought abandoned to its marginality, where ambition must surely die; he brings a believable edge to Antoine’s struggles to renew his sense of purpose through an exploration of his humble origins and the motives for casting them aside.
Hesme is a breathtaking beauty, lighting up the screen with her presence and her capacity to heal some of the wounds that this troubled family seems prone to continually reopening. There’s also a decent support role for Stephan Guerin-Tillie as Antoine’s brother Francois, a man with his own troubles who maintains the façade of a marriage long ago dissolved to save face with his parents.
Sentimentality would have been an easy out for Guirado but he avoids it right to the end, which though neat and fairly predictable, is an easy one to digest and a fitting coda for a minimalist, small-scale drama that has something worthwhile to say about the ramifications of dreams that, failing to materialise, have the power to inflict gaping wounds. With echoes of the documentary Modern Life, The Grocer's Son espouses the virtues of a seemingly anachronistic rural French living, dignifying the people who ensure their way of life stays alive.
Antoine's independent life has been a failure, his loftier ambitions cut off at the knees by a combination of trying circumstances, stiffer than expected competition, and general apathy. But to appease his mother (Jeanne Goupil) he agrees to fill in for his ailing father (Daniel Duval) whilst he recuperates; it means negotiating a daily run in a van through the scenic villages where the old and infirm flock to buy their daily groceries.
Surly and irascible, Antoine’s half-hearted efforts are further hampered by the antipathy that surges back upon revisiting these timeless rural surrounds with its sedentary living; upon completing his first run, he can only declare that “it reeks of death around here”, and the locals are not exactly thrilled by the appearance of a new face after years of familiarity with his father, many remembering Antoine with little fondness from his childhood.
Pivotal to reviving intimate connections with his roots is a stranger to these parts: Claire (Clotilde Hesme), a mature aged student and his Parisian neighbour who he lusts after but finds unapproachable. Antoine suggests a change of scenery for her as she slogs through an arduous, self-imposed study regime and she agrees to tag along. She soon proves to be a breath of fresh air, her glorious smile and vivacious personality helping smooth over relations with the locals as she accompanies him on his daily run, even sparking an impulsive paint-job on the rundown van.
Clotilde Hesme as Claire
The earthy visual approach and rustic scenery help offset the modest designs of Guirado’s film which strips life bare to its simplest components. There’s a directness that rings true in his ruminations on very familiar resentments and the wedge they place between family members - an element that most people could easily relate to.
Cazale is excellent as the young man whose career has floundered, returning full circle to a place he thought abandoned to its marginality, where ambition must surely die; he brings a believable edge to Antoine’s struggles to renew his sense of purpose through an exploration of his humble origins and the motives for casting them aside.
Hesme is a breathtaking beauty, lighting up the screen with her presence and her capacity to heal some of the wounds that this troubled family seems prone to continually reopening. There’s also a decent support role for Stephan Guerin-Tillie as Antoine’s brother Francois, a man with his own troubles who maintains the façade of a marriage long ago dissolved to save face with his parents.
Sentimentality would have been an easy out for Guirado but he avoids it right to the end, which though neat and fairly predictable, is an easy one to digest and a fitting coda for a minimalist, small-scale drama that has something worthwhile to say about the ramifications of dreams that, failing to materialise, have the power to inflict gaping wounds. With echoes of the documentary Modern Life, The Grocer's Son espouses the virtues of a seemingly anachronistic rural French living, dignifying the people who ensure their way of life stays alive.
| 65 |
| Vote |
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic