Conversations With My Gardener
Director: Jean Becker
Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001
Genre(s): Drama
Running time: 109 minutes
'Painter' (Auteuil) returns from Paris to the home he grew up in, somewhere in the picturesque countryside. Finding the place overrun with weeds, he employs local 'Gardener' (Darroussin) to clean it up and plant some vegetables. Painter and Gardener were once schoolboy friends, but a prank saw them expelled and their lives take vastly different paths. Over the next few months, the friends reminisce and talk about everything from Death to lettuce. It mightn't sound like much, but the breezy, relaxed and elegant nature of Conversations... makes the viewer feel they've just been on a short holiday, or had a really long nap. The conversations of the title are the meandering, natural (and almost lazy) dialogue one has with a friend they know but not too well; veteran director Jean Becker, who is as prolific as Kubrick when it comes to completed features, seems unconcerned with loading his film with plot points and just lets Auteuil and Darroussin do their thing. This tactic can be frustrating at times, as the 'plot' doesn't really settle down until one of the characters develops a distressing stomach complaint, which takes the film off in another direction entirely. Basically, a Beaches for middle-aged men, Conversations With My Gardener will appeal to those green-fingered movie fans that would like a mellow way to spend the evening.
