Le fils de l'épicier

A very nice film I think you'd like.... fine acting, terrific musical score, richly nuanced character interactions. The theme of personal growth and relationship redemption is strong and compelling. That said, this same theme both resonates with and is diluted by being juxtaposed as parallel to the urban vs bucolic dichotomy. This is unfortunate only to the extent that it is an incidental distraction to the character dynamics, and misleading as an undercurrent suggesting some inherently beneficent quality to rural areas resistant to modernity.

The photography in itself is rather good but somehow I left feeling they could have done more with the panoramic vistas sensed in the background as well as to contrast the city vs country ambiance; somewhat better cinematography might have elevated this movie from really good to excellent. For me the film lacked perhaps the exuberance of a fine Amarone but 'tasted like a really good Cab'..

One for your list of films to see..

Maybe, the main virtue of this seductive film about family, grow up, love, customers, villages , dilemmas and happiness is its admirable freshness. It is a sort of documentary, using the rules of this genre, proposing realistic human portraits , in frame of a family life with difficulties, vulnerabilities, mistakes, secrets, selfishness and problem to exprime, in fair way yours feelings/ thoughts. Great contribution of Lilianne Rovère; nice job of Dqniel Duvql qnd; sure; difficult to ignore the precise explorqtion of nuqnces of his role by Nicolas Cazalé:

I have seen one review here that described this movie as a "dud" and another stating... "All French movies are either about sex or sons reconnecting with their fathers. This one is mostly about the latter." I cannot agree with either. I do not believe all French movies are about either 'sex or sons and their fathers' but I do believe a lot are family orientated.

This is a film based around a hard-working small town family who stumble and struggle through the same ups and downs that most of us have at one point or another with family and children, regardless of age, sex, ethnicity. So please do not miss this movie if you believe it to be just another about fathers/sons and/or sex, as you would be missing out on something very different.

I couldn't say it was a dud in any aspect. Yes, there are flaws, it's not polished perfect but then again, neither are people and life. Because of this I found myself feeling more invested as a parent/spouse/sibling.

The lush scenery and quaint village became characters unto themselves with their lush beauty and vibrant colors. I've not watched a movie for some time where I could say a vehicle became such a huge part of the story. However, I believe it to be the central part of this movie, the proverbial beating heart willing all to see what it sees and proving that sometimes all is not lost and it doesn't take much at all to have things back up and running.

Eric Guirado has done a tremendous job of balancing the story and characters. It felt more of an ensemble piece to me. I read he'd spent time watching actual villagers and successfully as in most cases I wasn't sure who was an extra and who was a paid actor. If you've lived in a small village/town you'll surely appreciate the diversity.

The only negative I have is although I loved the Deleted scenes and Outtakes, I couldn't help but want a longer 'Making Of' after the movie finished.

It is definitely a movie I recommend you see and if you do, I'm sure most will find it as enjoyable as I did.

Eric Guirado has made documentaries about the French countryside and specifically traveling tradesmen in central and southern France. Directly from that background comes this touching little fiction feature about a family that has a grocery business with a van that travels into the hills and provides daily necessities to aging country people. One of the sons, Francois (Stephan Gillian Tillié of Just a Question of Love) is a hairdresser in town. The other, Antoine (Nicolas Cazalé of Le Clan), left home years ago to live in Paris, but he returns to help out when his father (Daniel Duval) is downed by a heart attack. He stays with his mom (Jeanne Goupil). And very importantly, he brings with him a lively young woman, Claire (Clotilde Hesme, of Regular Lovers). They aren't really involved, but he is bailing her out. She is penniless, the refugee of an early failed marriage. He borrows money from his mom to make this trip, bail Claire out of her debts, and give her a peaceful place to finish her "bac" and apply to college in Spain. His own life in Paris has never jelled. He can't seem to hold a job for three months running.

Antoine pretends that he and Claire are married. And Francois, who lives elsewhere but comes by for meals, is pretending all is fine with his wife, who has left him some time ago. This isn't a family that communicates well, and Antoine left them because things weren't right; but neither was his own behavior as a youth--as we find out from Lucienne (Liliane Riviere), a feisty old lady on the van's grocery route who does not remember him with favor. Antoine also becomes more involved with Old Man Clement (Paul Clauchet), whose hen's eggs are practically all he has to offer any more. Guirado is remarkably skillful at making the constant trips in the grocery van different and reflective of changes in Antoine. Grounded in documentary technique, the film has a wealth of specific detail and never seems forced. And on top of that those in the main roles are actors with presence, anchored in center stage by the hunky, soulful Cazale and the vibrant, very French Clotilde Hesme. There is star quality here yet Cazalé, Tillié, and Duval, though you might not have known to pick them from a crowd, look very much like blood relations. That's good casting.

This is a very slight story, with some elements of too-sweet resolution, and it hardly seems likely to have much of a future as a US release. What makes it work are two things: the wealth of authentic country people who make up the secondary characters, the "customers" Antoine takes groceries to; and the fact that there are emotions here, that you care about Antoine and Francois and their dangling lives, the disgruntlement of their dad, Antoine's discovered affection for Claire, and his gradual acceptance, for the lack of anything better but because he has a basically good heart, of the idea that he might find a life in the rural world he fled from.

The Grocer's Son/Le fils de l'épicier is part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center, February 29-March 9, 2008. No US distributor at that time. Later limited US theatrical release starting in June 2008.

Even from his earliest days, Antoine Sfouza has made it the goal of his life not to have anything to do with the family business. That's why, in his late teens, he left the town where he was born and raised and headed off to the big city in search of fame, fortune and a better life for himself. The problem is that now, at the ripe old age of thirty, Antoine finds himself an embittered ne'er-do-well loser, waiting tables in a sidewalk cafe and living in a dreary one-room flat in Paris, all but estranged from the family that raised him. But after his father is hospitalized with a heart attack, Antoine reluctantly returns to help his mother and brother run the grocery store, which, as a part of its service, operates a van that travels around the local countryside, selling goods in towns and villages too remote to have a fully stocked grocery store of their own. It becomes Antoine's job to drive and man the van, even though his gloomy demeanor and prickly personality don't make him exactly a prime candidate for such an assignment.

Eric Guirado's "The Grocer's Son" might just as easily have been titled "The Grocer's Prodigal Son," since the movie is a fairly transparent update of that well-known story from the Bible. Yet, lucky for us, the screenplay by Guirado and Florence Vignon fleshes out the allegory with fully realized characters and the kind of family dynamics that can only be hinted at in a brief parable. In a carefully understated performance, Nicolas Cazale plays the brooding, almost completely unsmiling Antoine, who eventually comes to learn that a life spent cut off from the people around him is no life at all. The charming Clotilde Hesme co-stars as the free-spirited and independent 26-year-old college student who rooms and boards with the family and who becomes a major catalyst for change in the young man's life.

This is a movie that sneaks up on you slowly and wins you over by degrees - until, in the last half hour or so, it becomes a lyrical, really quite beautiful tale of redemption and compassion, of accepting responsibility and finding one's place in the world. Add to the mix an array of sweet and winning performances by a tremendously gifted cast, a lilting musical score by Christophe Boutin (played mainly on guitar), and generous helpings of lovely French scenery rolling on by, and you have a truly touching and memorable film that will lift your spirits and, for a brief moment at least, make everything seem right with the world.