EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

runamokprods 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.

WilliamCKH It's a great pleasure to watch a film in which the director gives time to characters to have conversation, to not be in a hurry to move things along. The two main characters, one a successful Parisien painter, and the other, a retired working class gardener, are brought together when the artist, moving back into his childhood estate, advertises for help in creating and planting a garden...zucchini, squash, tomatoes, peppers, beans,.. not really for eating, but really for the idea of a garden, for both artistic and nostalgic reasons. When the two meet, they turn out to have been childhood friends and relive some of their experiences and impressions of their childhood.Though their lives since have taken very different paths, they easily settle in with one another, meeting every few days to tend to the garden when engaging in a series of conversations about art, work, family, love, death, etc. each providing his own unique viewpoint. The successful artist, with his money and fame, would seem to have the more respected viewpoint of the two, but as the movie progress, it becomes clearer that the gardener, with his common sense, his finding joy in simple pleasures, his not overreaching his happiness, may be the one living more authentically. I found their conversations very enlightening, not so much in their content, but the fact that they let each other finish their sentences, that the artist does not let his ego get in the way of learning from his friend. Their conversations are unhurried, filled with stillness, sometimes with one engulfed in his art, the other quietly tending his garden.I was surprised how deeply the ending touched me. It was filled with compassion, showing very much how easily we all fall into the trap of and ego-driven life and that in the end, that sort of life becomes meaningless. But for the short time that were here, if we can cultivate those things which are true and genuine, our friendships, our family, our life's work, then, although fleeting, we will look at this short time given to us not with anger or sadness, but with gratitude.BTW, both Auteuil and Daroussin are wonderful in their roles!

jose angel g Jean Becker makes extremely typical french films, with lots of dialog, and masterful mise en scene. This film plays again with one of his favorite subjects, the wisdom of the uncultivated, working class simpletons, as opposed to the stiff way of life of the cultivated bourgeoisie. More or less. The story, a painter who goes back to the village of his childhood and befriends a retired railroad worker he hires as gardener ad happens to be an old childhood friend, serves well as an excuse for a series of enlightening dialogs and thoughts over class, life, struggle, love, etc. When it ends you have been entertained brilliantly for 90 minutes, and you are also left with something to think about.

GiGiGix3 I have just come from the FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL in Richmond, VA (2008), where I saw this film. I don't view a lot of American films, so I can't adequately compare, but I do know American film makers don't develop relationships between people the way French film makers do. While American films seem to give little short glimpses into people's lives, French film makers give us long conversations between actors and show us how one person can change the life of another.In this film, the artist comes home to his roots. When he advertises for a gardener to work the potager at his old family home, an old school mate applies for the job. As they reconnect through the work, each contributes to the other's life. It's interesting to see how the artist's paintings changed as he was influenced by his friend.The film deals with life, death, family, gardening, painting, sickness and other realities of life. The scenery is beautiful, the actors realistic, and the story believable.When the director answered questions at the end of the screening, it was very interesting to hear the Americans trying to insert and look for symbolism in many of the scenes, but the director's replies indicated that symbolism was not intended, rather bare content.I so enjoyed this film and wish I had a copy of it to entertain others with at my home. English subtitles are there, but if you understand French, you will get much more out of this movie. I found the English subtitles very British and not conveying the French spirit at times, but if you don't know the difference, it won't matter.