Mesilla Valley Film Society
at the Historic Fountain Theatre
2469 Calle de Guadalupe
Mesilla
575 524-8287
Nov 21-Nov 27 (No screening on Thanksgiving night, Nov 27th!)
The Grocer's Son
Dir: Eric Guirado, (France), 2007
96 min. in French w/ subtitles
The rolling countryside of Provence may be a dream vacation spot, but it is the last place in the world that Antoine (Nicolas Cazale), the sullen 30-year-old protagonist of The Grocer’s Son would like to be. Antoine reluctantly returns to his rural hometown after 10 years in the big city when his father has a heart attack.
Someone has to run the family’s grocery store while his father recovers, and Antoine’s older brother, François, who stayed by their parents when Antoine fled, insists the time has come for Antoine to shoulder some responsibility. While their mother has minded the store, their father has operated a van selling produce and staples to the area’s mostly elderly inhabitants.
Slowly Antoine warms to the rural environment he turned his back on and, begins to feel a tentative happiness and community spirit. Mr. Cazalé’s subtle performance makes his transformation entirely believable and prevents this cautiously upbeat movie from curdling into a sentimental advertisement for the simple life.
The Grocer’s Son is a triumphant accumulation of such quirky, perfectly observed details. …Stephen Holden, New York Times
More Information: www.fountaintheatre.org
