My Afternoons with Margueritte (La tête en friche) 2010

Predictably, they strike up an unlikely friendship, although sound acting saves the film from clichéd territory. The rapport between Margueritte and Gérard is compelling and their conversations are a joy to watch. At its heart, the film is an ode to the magic of the written word – Margueritte shares her favourite books with Gérard, amusingly lingering on gruesome descriptions from Camus’ La Peste (think armies of rats). Depardieu cements his reputation as a strong character actor, offering a nuanced performance of a battered, but not broken, Quasimodo.

Poetry and cloying music unfortunately give a shot of sentimentalism to the film’s final moments. Furthermore, Gérard’s romance with the young and blonde Annette (Sophie Guillemin) is too underdeveloped to convince as a Beauty and the Beast scenario. Lacking in depth, My Afternoons with Margueritte is redeemed by its refreshing lightness, succeeding as a very sweet and unobtrusive comedy. Hide