It's a great pleasure to watch a film in which the director gives time to characters to have conversation, to not be in a hurry to move things along. The two main characters, one a successful Parisien painter, and the other, a retired working class gardener, are brought together when the artist, moving back into his childhood estate, advertises for help in creating and planting a garden...zucchini, squash, tomatoes, peppers, beans,.. not really for eating, but really for the idea of a garden, for both artistic and nostalgic reasons. When the two meet, they turn out to have been childhood friends and relive some of their experiences and impressions of their childhood.
Though their lives since have taken very different paths, they easily settle in with one another, meeting every few days to tend to the garden when engaging in a series of conversations about art, work, family, love, death, etc. each providing his own unique viewpoint. The successful artist, with his money and fame, would seem to have the more respected viewpoint of the two, but as the movie progress, it becomes clearer that the gardener, with his common sense, his finding joy in simple pleasures, his not overreaching his happiness, may be the one living more authentically. I found their conversations very enlightening, not so much in their content, but the fact that they let each other finish their sentences, that the artist does not let his ego get in the way of learning from his friend. Their conversations are unhurried, filled with stillness, sometimes with one engulfed in his art, the other quietly tending his garden.
I was surprised how deeply the ending touched me. It was filled with compassion, showing very much how easily we all fall into the trap of and ego-driven life and that in the end, that sort of life becomes meaningless. But for the short time that were here, if we can cultivate those things which are true and genuine, our friendships, our family, our life's work, then, although fleeting, we will look at this short time given to us not with anger or sadness, but with gratitude.
BTW, both Auteuil and Daroussin are wonderful in their roles!
Though their lives since have taken very different paths, they easily settle in with one another, meeting every few days to tend to the garden when engaging in a series of conversations about art, work, family, love, death, etc. each providing his own unique viewpoint. The successful artist, with his money and fame, would seem to have the more respected viewpoint of the two, but as the movie progress, it becomes clearer that the gardener, with his common sense, his finding joy in simple pleasures, his not overreaching his happiness, may be the one living more authentically. I found their conversations very enlightening, not so much in their content, but the fact that they let each other finish their sentences, that the artist does not let his ego get in the way of learning from his friend. Their conversations are unhurried, filled with stillness, sometimes with one engulfed in his art, the other quietly tending his garden.
I was surprised how deeply the ending touched me. It was filled with compassion, showing very much how easily we all fall into the trap of and ego-driven life and that in the end, that sort of life becomes meaningless. But for the short time that were here, if we can cultivate those things which are true and genuine, our friendships, our family, our life's work, then, although fleeting, we will look at this short time given to us not with anger or sadness, but with gratitude.
BTW, both Auteuil and Daroussin are wonderful in their roles!