Quelques heures de printemps

The best film of Brize remains as far as I am concerned "Je ne suis pas là pour etre aimé". The four main characters are well plaid by experienced actors. Lindon and Helène Vincent don't speak much, because they never did so during many years, but we feel how hard was their life when the father was still alive. The theme around cancer and life ending is courageous and going on new paths. Unfortunely, the scenario remain too very simple, the end is no surprise, just be patient because not much occurs before and after. Of course, Brize tells us a story of low class people, living in a french middle size town in Burgundy. I know people like that, even in my family. But Cinema is there to go deeper into the reasons why they are not able to speak to each other.

Also secondary characters are superficial, and out of tune ( the swiss association representatives for example).

Alain Evrard cannot stand with his mother's simple habits, which are the habits of someone used to take care of herself and of her household. The way she cooks, put the food on the table, eat methodically etc. He can not stand the worry of his mother with his person, when she asks him about his job and plans to get a job. He cannot stand with the worry of someone who wants to take care of him. He cannot deal with a spontaneous relationship with a girl friend he meets at the bowling club. In other words, he is unable to exchange feelings with another person. His mother is not particularly effusive, yet she is a good person and seems to the spectator as a person with whom it is perfectly possible to cohabit. His girl friend would like to improve the relationship with him, but fails because of his attitude of refusing to do the steps which would lead to the improvement of the relationship. This situation lasts until the very last moment of the life of his mother: when she is dying, both cry, sobbing, embracing each other strongly and confessing that they have always loved each other. The title suggests that those moments where a springtime. I don't think so. I think that it's rather the sad awareness of what they missed during their lives, and I think that this is the whole meaning of the story: how to live a whole life of solitude not developing love relationships with those who are close to you and are ready to correspond. So, I would put the title "a whole life of solitude".

It is a film about solitude. Fair crafted, touching, seductive , bitter and melancholic. A venerable lady, living alone. Her son, coming from prison, without house, having a modest job. Their predictable clash, from habits to expectations.

She has a terminal neurological disease . He is in love, without knowing manage the relation. A neighbor of lady looks for fix the relation between mother and son.

But the solution, a radical one, is present - the old lady knows the answer to the deterioration of her health.

It is , for me, the film of a single scene - the empoisoned dog for reconquest her son.

In same measure, I consider Quelques heures de printemps the film of Hélène Vincent.

In short, touching story, beautiful acting.

This difficult subject was also treated in Germany the following year: a terminally -ill young girl chooses assisted suicide in Switzerland...."Und Morgen Mittag,Bin Ich Tot" (Tomorrow at noon,I'll be dead" )

It's interesting to compare the two movies :in the German work,the heroine is Still young and pretty ,and we see her dither over the final decision,make the best of the little time she has left to live :it's not easy to leave for a so called better world when you should have your whole life ahead of you.

In "Quelques Heures De Printemps" ,the situation is different ,because we deal with a woman nearing seventy who has seen her son grow ,and who refuses pointless sufferings ;during the whole movie,Yvette ,played by highly talented Helene Vincent,is calm ,serene ;she has prepared herself for weeks for this death,after careful consideration.Matching her every step of the way is Vincent Lindon's son ,who finds it hard her mom should leave this world (and him) that way .

The place where IT is going to happen is a patch of peaceful clear country land ,which sharply contrasts with the lugubrious last great journey.

Like the German movie,recommended ,but to be avoided if you are down in the dumps.

Stéphane Brizé didn't fall into the melodramatic trap which always needs to be highlighted especially when dealing with such sensitive subjects as euthanasia and the end of life.

The performances of Hélène Vincent and the ageless Vincent Lindon are absolutely accurate and truthful, and if the two are very good, it's clear that the introverted, very sober, almost silent role of the latter didn't allow him to fully express his potential.

Moreover, and even if it's poignant, this is a "spectator" movie that won't please everybody. There is not much of a plot, it's pretty slow, everything is in the details and suggestions, and it even sometimes resembles a documentary because it adopts a strong observant posture, and this passivity is probably what serves the film badly and will leave a part of the viewers on the side of the road.