Un amigo irremplazable

Jean-Pierre is a grumpy doctor who falls sick and his way to cope with bad news is to ignore them. He works in the countryside with younger female doctor Nathalie and their patients are very realistic country people.

The story is simple and treated with realism. Perhaps a bit slow moving, but moving in the right direction. Jean-Pierre goes out of his way to get an elderly patient out of the hospital, so that he can die at home, with his dog. Not the sort of scene easy to digest, but nevertheless part of a doctor's life.

When Jean-Pierre conditions are not improving, he doesn't want to pursue further treatment. My interpretation is that he has nothing to live for... until - as to be expected - something starts to grow between Jean-Pierre and Nathalie and with that, a will to live.

A quiet, somber movie without the usual French excesses. Well worth watching.

The complexity of feelings is hinted rather than spread out, the sequence of events is suggested rather than shown. The unsaid prevails, concealing the characters' emotional depth, which leaves a lot to the spectator's imagination. Unlike Anglo-Saxon movies it is not overacted, loud, vulgar and stuffed with sex. Also the casting is excellent, all the patients and inhabitants of the region are more real than in real life.

My only criticism would be about too much music. Silence, as in most Ingmar Bergman films, has my preference. This is the reason of my 9 out of 10 stars.

Compelling story about a couple of countryside physicians, especially the male one played by the always convincing François Cluzet. A devoted doctor, a man deeply involved with people living in small villages, lost farms, far from the madding crowd. A man who is also aware to have cancer, and who tries anyway to fight like a dog to, against all odds, help the others. I liked the supporting characters who, I am sure, were not played by professional actors, but whose performances are however outstanding. A movie about true life, true people, those whose we too rarely talk about. The people from the deep France, far from the crowded suburbs.

Very compelling feature directed by an authentic doctor in real life.

When you get a good movie, that is a good story, with good actors and the whole thing knits together with no real nasties, then you finish the film in some frustration because it needed to go on another hour or so, so that you can wallow in the good feeling it gives out. Real people is the theme, real situations and no horrid surprises out of the blue. I enjoy this genre of French films, I wish other countries could grasp the idea of escapism that is quite realistic - so that life could be like this. Some familiar faces from other movies, as ever the beautiful French countryside stars too. I'm off to buy the dvd.

Other reviewers here have written about 'A Country Doctor' far better than I can. Still, I want to add a big thumbs up. This is a great, very well-acted movie that touches and warms the heart. It's about a country doctor who has devoted his life to helping his patients in the small village he lives in. When he is diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, he is assigned an assistant, who happens to be a female. There is some obvious tension between them at first. The script writer wisely uses their developing relationship, both professional and personal, in a totally tasteful way.

One thing I like about some French movies I've seen is that the plots are simple, but the results are profound because of the script, acting, etc.; also, there are many sub-plots that enrich the movie and give a lot of actors an opportunity to be in a movie. All the minors actors in this movie do a great job.

Because it's a French movie there's no discussion about money, what any treatment costs, etc. The French have a great health care system. They value human beings. Who wants to worry about money when one's health is involved?