Je rentre à la maison

This is a relatively brief film whose conclusion arrives, like that of a literary short story, unexpectedly. The mood is understated, and there are many single-camera scenes set in public environments around Paris which unfold in real time.

One repeatedly-used location is the local café where it is the routine of the main character, a recently-bereaved stage actor, in the prime of a long and successful career, to sit at a particular window-seat reading the paper and drinking an espresso. In one such scene the actor has a meeting with his agent. The meeting is filmed from within the café and throughout the scene’s duration, as we listen to the two men discussing matters, we are also aware, through the window behind them, of Parisian life passing by in the form of road traffic and pedestrians. Although the inclusion of peripheral, but unignorable, “life” in this manner is distracting at first, the naturalist perspective is enjoyable and informative, reminding us of the fact that city life bustles around us, and we participate as well, all the time.

This idea that the director is reminding us of our environment is also carried through in the perspective from which he films a fairground big wheel in Paris, which the actor looks at from the backseat of the cab which is driving past. This perspective is initially disequilibriating, which may be surprising when one considers that we see the world most of the time in real life from such perspectives. We are surprised because those perspectives are rarely seen in films with a narrative content. In another novel scene we see some actors rehearsing a dramatic production of Ulysses in English. For the entire scene the director of this film within a film, who is overseeing the rehearsals that are taking place off screen, is filmed from straight on, while, by his side, his own movie camera gazes directly at us.

The character of the old actor is sympathetic, despite the fact that he is occasionally irascible when discussing jobs with his agent. He is to all intents and purposes a highly talented stage actor, and we witness his talents when we see him playing Prospero in the Tempest. He is also presented as a warm and loving grandparent. However, he endures a great loss and, by end of the film, the audience is left wondering if he will have the resources to overcome this or whether, as is occasionally suggested, he will withdraw from the world.

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