A Familiar French Fable

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday October 21, 2008

KILMENY ADIE

THE GROCER'S SON

Starring: Nicolas Cazale, Antoine Sforza and Clotilde Hesme

Director: Eric Guirado

Screening: Gala Warrawong

Watching The Grocer's Son is like observing a sunrise over a familiar landscape.

Pre-dawn, all you see in the darkness is ill-formed shapes and patterns but, as the sun rises, the beauty, charm and character of your surrounds is uncovered.

The surly Antoine (Cazale) is the grocer's son, the antihero of this interpretation of the prodigal son.

A decade earlier, he turned his back on his family and their livelihood in a small provincial town in favour of a directionless life in the city.

Among the tall buildings of the city, Antoine earns a mediocre living as a waiter and lives a basic existence in his austere flat.

His space is filled with moving boxes which suggests he has never really settled into his new life, and provides a stark contrast to the flat of his neighbour and would-be love interest Claire (Hesme).

The atmosphere in her flat is nowhere near as bleak, as she has a focus and direction, which is centred on changing her life's path.

When his father has a heart attack, Antoine is called back into the family fold.

Once back home, Antoine is asked to take over his father's daily grocery run in the small community.

Rather than wanting to improve family relations, Antoine sees his return as an opportunity to win Claire's affections and so he takes her along, under the guise the break would fuel her energy to study.

Claire finds herself caught between a range of brittle family relations.

There is a mother's excitement over her son's return and the fact he has brought a female friend with him, the friction and jealously of two brothers, the delicate emotional state of Antoine's brother Francois (Stephan Guerin-Tillie) and a father's anger.

The plot development of The Grocer's Son is uncomplicated and is centred on the family relationships, Claire and Antoine's friendship and the connection he has for the small community in which he grew up.

Director Guirado's careful construction of this beautiful film engages the viewer from the outset.

Initially, the shots are tight and it's faces and dark, grim places that dominate the screen.

Antoine's apartment building and the hospital where his father is recovering are dimly lit, painted in gloomy colours and this governs the mood of the characters.

This tight camera action continues as Antoine returns home and there are only the occasional glimpse of landscape to give a sense of his surrounds.

However, as Antoine's journey of self-discovery continues, these snug frames gradually give way to glorious landscapes and wide-angle shots.

These are the views an audience would expect (and long to see) in a film set in Provence.

The humour of The Grocer's Son is also disarming.

Initially, the film's good-natured jokes take a back seat to the drama.

But as Antoine discovers himself, the humour starts to seep through in his interaction with his customers.

A documentary film-maker, Guirado reportedly prepared to work on The Grocer's Son by spending time in small rural villages in France and getting a sense of the people who lived there.

Perhaps this accounts for a large part of the film's charming success.

Especially since, Guirado used the elderly residents of French villages and non-actors as extras to find a truth to the diversity and appeal of the minor characters.

Overall, The Grocer's Son is a rewarding film that will beguile viewers willing to let the meandering pace Guirado sets take them on a leisurely journey through Provence to meet some of the locals.

KILMENY ADIE

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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