La vieille fille

Likeable main characters played by amazing actors of the time, easy to follow and digest story and pleasant location are forming quality package for this amazingly low-profile French comedy from the seventies. Noire and Girardot are actually aged only one year apart and forming a beautiful leading couple, while supporting characters are also surprisingly interesting, although not very deep.

A look back into a time gone by, quaint, quiet, fun in a subtle way, unrushed and relaxing. Many enjoyable details and references to that particular age in time which may not appeal to a younger audience (who may well be offended) but nevertheless has quite an authentic air to it.

I enjoyed the many scenes around the table in the dining room where people day after day are joined in communal dining which was common back around those days, jere I think more of 60s than 70s.

The most interesting aspects are not what is being said in words but in gestures and facial expressions.

Watching this movie is like time travelling, like enjoying the bouquet from a bottle of 1972 Cornas that is but a shadow of its youth but nevertheless charming and interesting.

Jean Pierre Blanc is not a very famous name for most viewers who have seen French films.However,after watching "La Vieille Fille"/The Old Maid it is hoped that audiences interested in serious cinema would be tempted to discover not only Jean Piere Blanc and his films but also many other unknown directors who have made meaningful,entertaining films.The theme of lonely people depicted in "The Old Maid" remains relevant even for contemporary audiences.However,the major difference is that the films about lonely people of the past relied more on imagination whereas the same films set in present times tend to be based on gimmicks and hype.By giving roles to Annie Girardot and Philippe Noiret,two of French cinema's most talented as well as known faces,a tender look at male/female relationships has been cast.Although the film is about some secondary characters with weak qualities,there is absolutely no hint of any mocking tone.Lastly,some sensitive observations about various facets of life especially in the context of human relations and love have been honestly presented in this film.This is a film to be watched if one is patient enough to let human sentiments rule over human reason.

This is a story about "fitting in" where you (and everyone else for that matter) are the odd man.

"La Vieille Fille" is a chronological jig-saw puzzle. You get all the pieces in their proper order but as they are all laying "face down" you never know what the next piece will be until it's turned over and inserted into its' place. That's the way the story plays out.

Each scene is more like a series of still-photographs rather than a motion picture. Dialog is sparse. Actually, "dialog" is a bad choice of expression, as most scenes consist of a monologue. It must have been a very difficult film to direct. But as daunting a task in creating this film, as it must have been - it has succeeded! The short scenes and long, silent spaces give the male thinker time to identify himself. The mood is tangible.

Philippe Noiret has been around for a long time and he's always a welcomed contributor to any film. He does very well in "La Vieille Fille". If you choose to see this film your eye will be upon him the whole length of it and once you get settled into the story you'll begin to think it is you (yourself) prodding along, scene after scene - not Noiret – right to the final, parting shot.

WARNING: "Matrix" and "Die Hard" fans - look elsewhere. You'll find no exploding automobiles and ticking bombs here and you'll end up slitting your wrists or stringing yourself up before the film is half-way through.

a love story. or only drawing of deep solitude. few portraits. meetings. and the salt air of a holiday.a film about common events, old words, not surprising choices. minimalist and honest. nothing strange, nothing unknown. almost a documentary.but it is different not only for dialogs or performance of lead actors, for mixture of characters silhouettes or for few scenes but for force of measure, for the isle of silences, for the skin of existences, fragile, strange, gauzy. collection of faces, gestures and search to escape from yourself, useful art lesson, demonstration of great importance of small things, bitter, nice, cold, it is, like each good movie, only a mirror.