Daddy Nostalgie

After extensive heart surgery, a retired businessman living in the south of France returns home to convalesce. There he is visited by his daughter Caroline. As his health declines, Caroline is confronted by all the familiar behaviour patterns of her relationship with her mother and father.

This is an exquisite example of cinematic subtlety and understatement from Tavernier, Bogarde and Birkin. Tavernier enables his actors to create an intensely realistic 'family' - proud father, long-suffering mother, loving yet insecure daughter - all struggling to come to terms with the fragility of life. Bogarde and Birkin are deeply moving as father and daughter, clumsily struggling to communicate as adults after a lifetime of parent and child, and Laure provides selfless support, raging silently against the inevitable.

As a study of life's finite nature, this is faultless. As a final outing for Bogarde, it is a fitting and extraordinary tribute to a master-craftsman of the cinema.

The other reviewers have captured the essence of this beautiful film about a family searching for love, relationship, meaning. For me it was a bittersweet viewing as I am a devoted Dirk Bogarde fan, and this was his last film. Bogarde, according the the special features section of the DVD, didn't want to do the film to begin with, but changed his mine. How grateful the film audience is for his decision! I noticed his voice had changed somewhat -a bit higher in tone, perhaps because he had aged, or perhaps his characters situation in the film. Still, it was pure Bogarde, subtle, intense, utterly and completely believable always. With the addition of a beautifully written script, exquisite scenery, and the fine acting of Ms. Birkin and the supporting cast it was a delight. During the special features section Ms. Birkin was interviewed and had nothing but lovely things to say about Dirk Bogarde, his special sensitivity to her during the filming, his aid to help her through difficult scenes, etc. The film world lost one of its finest when we lost Bogarde.

Daddy Nostalgie looked promising right from the outset. A film by Bertrand Tavernier (director of the gentle, beautiful 'Sunday in the Country') starring Jane Birkin (so superb in La Belle Noiseuse) and Dirk Bogarde (who stole the show from Gielgud and Burstyn in Providence... no mean feat at all) - it was hard to imagine this being anything other than a quality film.

And yet, even I was surprised by how good it was. So few films allow you to truly empathise with the characters, but this movie is an exception. You really feel for Birkin's character, as you see the hurt she still feels from being ignored as a child. The best scenes are those between her and her father - he, trying to make the most of his last days, and she, trying to make the most of her last days with him. Even the crabby mother is given a degree of character development as the film moves on, but in the end she takes a back seat to the performance of the two superb lead actors.

A sensitive, mature film with truly beautiful cinematography, this is one that will surely be appreciated by anyone who has had to deal with family relationships at any stage in their life.

Although gentle in presentation, this film packs a wallop. The wonderful Dirk Bogarde, in his final role, portrays a man in failing health staring mortality in the face. His wife and daughter deal with him and his impending demise as best they can, but the past weighs heavily on all of them, a source of both great pleasure and intense regret.

The beautiful setting on the coast of France is an ironic backdrop, a sun kissed panorama of holiday pleasure, against which the three protagonists struggle to accept the disappointments of the past and the daunting future that lingers ever closer.

The performances are note perfect, capturing the flashes of tenderness, regret and anxiety that play out in a never-ending merry-go-round of conflicting emotions. But it is the terrifically subtle screenplay and masterful direction of Taverner that makes the viewer feel they are witnessing a genuine experience of life rather than a filmed entertainment.

This film is not for everyone, but the audience that is receptive to its charms will feel deeply moved and enriched by the experience.

Faultless in execution - but I couldn't relate to the characters, nor to the situation. Neither tragedy, nor comedy ... it just dragged on interminably. I only watched because of a certain nostalgic feeling for the bygone days of Dirk Bogarde; ironically I found Jane Birkin's performance much more engrossing (his, not at all, actually). Or, perhaps it was her beauty and animation that kept me watching.