Médecin de campagne

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?

Nothing innovative, but with a sensitivity, simplicity that enchant, a cute and delicious cake recipe to taste... More of the same, but with a touch of purity, an abrupt ending, almost imperceptible, beautiful and happy, delicate and adorable...

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.

Anyone remember the James Herriot "All Creatures Great and Small" novels? This reminded me a little of them as we meet the established and popular "Dr. Werner" (François Cluzet). He is the only physician amongst his community and they look up to and respect him. When he is diagnosed with cancer, his own doctor and friend, "Dr. Norès" (Christophe Odent) suggests he get some help, and so nominates "Nathalie" (Marianne Denicourt). She's partially qualified, was a nurse for ten years and is enthusiastic. That's more than can be said for him and for the commit at large. Both are set in their ways. He also tends to believe in his own publicity and initially resents her very presence. What now ensues is all rather predicable, but the effort from Cluzet quite engaging. His character has a son "Vincent" (Félix Moati) but that relationship isn't especially close and his ageing, widowed, mother (Isabelle Sadoyan) is struggling to stay independent. It's his job that has become his main raison d'être and his gradual realisation that things must change, that he must learn to confide in people and that he must focus on his own treatment is well portrayed by an actor who demonstrates these frustrations subtly. There's not a great deal of dialogue, just a gentle exercise in coming to terms with your own mortality. It's also not averse at illustrating just how resistant communities can be to change, too - a self perpetuating cycle that can prove difficult to break. Not great, not particularly memorable, but it's worth a watch for Cluzet.

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.