This film has a soft, subtle tone set forth by the matriarch of the family, wonderfully cast as and gracefully played by Edith Scob. If I tick off some of the plot points, the film seems like it could be one mustering a lot of blustering emotion, but it never really does.
Thus I am actually a bit taken aback by the notions that this is a film of a dysfunctional family. Sure the family is fragmented, as is any family as its members not only grow up, but necessarily grow apart. If anything, I think this film is gentle in addressing that. I actually thought the family was strikingly functional, at least by cinematic standards.
Anyways, here come the spoilers, I'd certainly recommend watching this film, ideally before reading any further...
In the film we have
1) the death of said matriarch
2) an ensuing disagreement on what to do with the inheritance
3) notions of a scandalous affair involving the matriarch and her famous artist uncle
4) the matriarch's granddaughter gets arrested for shoplifting and possession
In particular, #2 above is propped up as a potential explosive point, but the two brothers and one sister seem to reconcile their disagreements with extreme civility, and indeed despite the elder son's executor intentions, the family ends up choosing what the mother had wisely selected. Surely a sobering decision for her, and I think the crux of the film.
A lot of the above tensions are actually resolved off screen, again I think putting the focus off any sort of familial fireworks.
So while we may see the wild, farewell-to-the-estate party by the granddaughter and her cohorts as oblivious to the treasures that were once housed there, there is a moment out in the tall grass, where the granddaughter recollects her ancestor's memories, and a subtle shade of the love that touched a young Helene was more memorable than any future museum piece she may have touched. Helene passed that moment somehow through to her granddaughter, framed not in a canvas, or even in the light as it struck the model of the original picture, but in sensation of that specific moment.
Are such moments what are hopes to capture, if not inspire?
In contrast, the desk that leaves the estate for the museum is then shown partially occluded on screen and largely ignored by the throngs that press past it.
Look, I love museums myself, but even more so I love the people I attend them with. Watch this film with one of those people (my wife also enjoyed this film, subtitles and all!)
Thus I am actually a bit taken aback by the notions that this is a film of a dysfunctional family. Sure the family is fragmented, as is any family as its members not only grow up, but necessarily grow apart. If anything, I think this film is gentle in addressing that. I actually thought the family was strikingly functional, at least by cinematic standards.
Anyways, here come the spoilers, I'd certainly recommend watching this film, ideally before reading any further...
In the film we have
1) the death of said matriarch
2) an ensuing disagreement on what to do with the inheritance
3) notions of a scandalous affair involving the matriarch and her famous artist uncle
4) the matriarch's granddaughter gets arrested for shoplifting and possession
In particular, #2 above is propped up as a potential explosive point, but the two brothers and one sister seem to reconcile their disagreements with extreme civility, and indeed despite the elder son's executor intentions, the family ends up choosing what the mother had wisely selected. Surely a sobering decision for her, and I think the crux of the film.
A lot of the above tensions are actually resolved off screen, again I think putting the focus off any sort of familial fireworks.
So while we may see the wild, farewell-to-the-estate party by the granddaughter and her cohorts as oblivious to the treasures that were once housed there, there is a moment out in the tall grass, where the granddaughter recollects her ancestor's memories, and a subtle shade of the love that touched a young Helene was more memorable than any future museum piece she may have touched. Helene passed that moment somehow through to her granddaughter, framed not in a canvas, or even in the light as it struck the model of the original picture, but in sensation of that specific moment.
Are such moments what are hopes to capture, if not inspire?
In contrast, the desk that leaves the estate for the museum is then shown partially occluded on screen and largely ignored by the throngs that press past it.
Look, I love museums myself, but even more so I love the people I attend them with. Watch this film with one of those people (my wife also enjoyed this film, subtitles and all!)