A prodigal son who reluctantly returns to his rural hometown, a stern, disapproving father, a stoic mother, a resentful brother, eccentric villagers"¦ Plenty of familiar themes and characters abound in The Grocer’s Son, but director/co-writer Éric Guirado artfully melds them into a charming, witty and touching film.
Set in the bucolic countryside of Provence, the movie was a surprise hit in its native France and it’s not hard to see why: it’s infused with a warm-hearted view of humanity.
Antoine (Nicolas Cazalé) hadn’t spoken to his grocer father (Daniel Duval) for 10 years since moving to the city. After his dad is felled by a heart attack, Antoine goes home to help out by driving the family’s van which services the area’s mostly elderly residents. He can barely speak to his father in hospital, has a tense relationship with his mother (Jeanne Goupil) and bickers with his unhappily married brother François (Stéphan Guérin-Tillié).
A tactless, surly guy, Antoine soon ruffles feathers by cutting off some customers’ credit and refusing to barter. Only when his free-spirited student friend Claire (Clotilde Hesme) comes to stay and joins him in the van does he begin to show a softer side. Romance eventually develops with Claire but it doesn’t pan out as Antoine hoped, especially after she discovers he tried to thwart her plans to study in Spain.
The screenplay by Guirado and Florence Vignon is slow to get going but is enlivened by the protagonists’ encounters with assorted villagers. There’s plenty of humour in Liliane Rovère’s feisty, acid-tongued Lucienne, and pathos in Paul Crauchet’s frail widowed farmer.
There are more poignant moments when the father returns from hospital and François is unable to cope with the breakdown of his marriage. Besides, will Antoine and Claire get over the hiccup in their relationship?
It takes a while to warm to Cazalé, whose performance earned him a most promising actor nomination at the 2008 César awards, but that’s because his character is such a moody wuss for much of the movie. Hesme is a sheer delight as Claire. Generous extras include a making-of featurette, deleted scenes and out-takes.
