Story: An artist (Daniel Auteuil) on the brink of divorce and fed up with Parisian life returns to his country home, where he employs an old school friend (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) as his gardener.It's a little facile that someone in need of saving in a movie always seems to find someone to save him or her. Unless, of course, you are watching a dramatic-thriller, in which case the person in need of saving will meet an Artful Dodger-type and have to learn to save him- or herself.
Still, as a man in need of saving, you could do a lot worse than Auteuil. He excels at the uptight Parisien in need of saving, even when he's as loose as the philanderer he plays here. He doesn't go in for big scenes so much as quiet implosions, and it makes the man at the centre seem all the more real for it. Plus he gets to laugh and smile a lot more here than I've ever seen him.
As the man who could save the city man with his country wisdom and down to earth nature, Darroussin goes beyond the archetype. As the eponymous gardener, he has just enough linguistic tics and odd habits to make him a believable human being without pushing him into quirky territory. To be honest, there's something luminous, almost angelic, in his dedication to gardening. To watch him rekindle a decades old friendship with ease is all the more touching.
Director and co-writer Jean Becker has little to do between the talent of his co-stars and the stunning backdrop of the painter's country estate photographed by Jean-Marie Dreujou, so he mostly stays out of the way. I can't blame him. If I had that sun dappled garden, Auteuil, and Darroussin to work with, I'd certainly be tempted to stand back and admire. B+
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