I was rather surprised by how good these two made for TV film were,although I must say part 2 was more interesting because part one covers a lot that was used in "Le château de ma mere" by Yve Roberts a movie I have seen to death. Part 1 Le temps des secrets covers Marcel first love with Isabelle a girl leaving in a dream to escape her sad reality.We also see Marcel making new friend at school,including l'agneau a kid who fells miserably in school and cant keep out of problem. There's also Marcel suspicion that his father his flirting with the village baker. Part 1 was a lot of fun but the fact that a huge chunk of the film was already done in a superior way in "My mother's castle" from 1990 might give audience a sense of deja vu. But the second half of the film make out for it , the school life of Marcel was very well translated from the book and the young actor was wonderful and I might say equally as good as the kid who played Marcel in the movies from the early 90's. The storyline as short as it is of Joseph and the Baker was also really well translated from the book and now I have to say something, I never ever taught that anyone could equal Nathalie Roussel as Augustine in my heart but I was wrong Armelle Deutsch was wondefull she is in my opinion the driving force of the two films , she has that much needed sparkle in her eyes every time she talk to her son and the scenes were she fights for her husband to get the Palm Academic were just so touching,it really showed the unconditional love she had for Joseph. The much more interesting Part 2 covers Marcel at 16 who start to work at being a writer. We also see the return of Isabelle who has now a very difficult life.Marcel even if not in love with the young woman anymore wants to help her. There are a lot of heart wrenching moment in this episode of Marcel's life including a moment were l'Agneau tells Marcel about the separation of friendship as two people grow older and interest changes when they step away from childhood.This is a sad reality and the scene were Marcel walk away from L'agneau with a new more compatible friend display that very well. Most of the moment with Isabelle were bittersweet , the girl who played her even dough she did not speak that much did wonderful. The actor who played Marcel as a young adult was also the perfect choice , he had that wise beyond his year type of look that Marcel needed. I love the fact that "petit Paul" took a backseat as I did found him a little bit overused for the cuteness factor in the Robert's film. The only thing I have a problem with is Pierre-François Martin-Laval as Joseph , his accent was not that convincing but that's a small detail. Well two very nice film I did not regret watching. La gloire de mon pere and Le château de ma mere will always be my two favorite films of all time and I appreciated that the new director Thierry Chabert did not go on a total different direction from Roberts while making these two memoirs. I highly recommend these films they have that Pagnol magic that I haven't felt in a long time. Hopefully our English friends will get the chance to see them some day.
Review of The Time of Secrets
