if you don't want to know what this film is about before viewing don't read this review as i'll be going through major parts of the story as i write this. you have here a story here about residents in a care home for the disabled, their carers and the needs of one resident called Rene.
suffering from a bout of insomnia i found this film by accident on bbc2 a couple of days ago and thought i'd give it a try. i was pleasantly surprised at the gentle way a tricky subject was handled.
Julie comes to work in a care home and interacts with Rene a resident who is foul mouthed ( he manages to reduce one carer to tears with his rudeness - sandrine )and he is obsessed with procreation. he is also dying. in one scene when they go shopping he even tries to embarrass julie by asking her to get him some pornographic videos from a top shelf display as he can't reach from his wheelchair. she is the only carer who takes the time to listen to Rene and ask him his needs , basically he wants to procreate and asks Julie to get him a prostitute to do so with.
Julie raises the subject at a staff meeting and the only supporter of her request for Rene is Jacques who she is romantically involved with. the director of the home eventually agrees with the request ( Rene goes on hunger strike ) on the condition that rene behaves himself. when rene does behave - Julie is set the task of arranging it all.
meanwhile the lovelorn Roland; the home handyman, yearns for Julie and does all manor of things to woo Julie , even taking her cat for a while because Jacques dosen't like felines be they real or ornament.
she manages to find a lady who's doorway can accommodate Rene's wheelchair and sets about getting a doctors permission to get Rene's wishes fulfilled. something she needs to do otherwise she and the director will fall foul of the law and be liable to arrest.
after trying 2 doctors she makes the mistake of telling the 3rd that others have refused so the 3rd also refuses , this sends Rene in to a rage so great that she decides what the hell ; Rene is right if he was a able-bodied man he could just visit florele ( the prostitute ) and no-one would bat an eyelid about it.
meanwhile at the home you have a bike mad resident who keeps taking his disability scooter out on the nationale 7 ( a type of motor or free -way that is close to the home )and nearly causing accidents. you also have two young men sharing more then just a room. one of which (rabah) wants to change his faith so as he can stay with the other one. rabah is a fan of a rock star called johnny and is very naive about changing his faith as he seems to think this will cure all his ills.
after a false start ; she cant get his wheel chair in the doorway on her own and gets sandrine to help, something that reduces them both to fits of laughter. she manages to get Rene in to the ladies van ( yes all the prostitutes work out of vans and mobile homes along the nationale 7 for some reason! ) and then the prostitute drops the bombshell that she won't put the condom on Rene and Julie has to do it.
Rene's trips to see florele is amazing he starts to be nice, calmer and even throws away his naughty films keeping only a picture of florele on his wall instead of his pin-ups. he even starts to interact with sandrine and correctly guesses that her husband who she claims to be very happy with had left her sometime ago. yes romance blossoms between them.
other residents find out about Rene's trips and also want to do the same. so Julie, Roland and sandrine take a few out for the day including rabah's man friend . rabah turns up and starts some trouble till he finds out that his friend didn't partake as he got cold feet. when he discovers that florele is a 'johnny' fan he decides on her as his godmother for his baptism.
all hell breaks loose when his choice of godmother is found out and the home threaten to stop him getting baptised. Jacques in his role of home psychiatrist tries to reason with rabah whose only reaction to being threatened is to threaten back that he'll go on hunger strike as well.
Julie realise's that Jacques is not the one for her and looks to Roland but before she can do anything about it Roland is sacked for helping the residents to protest about rabah's rights to do as he likes.
in the end rabah is baptised with godparents of his choice and Julie walks away as she feels snubbed by Roland who is rabah's choice of godfather. he does chase after her and asks her to come and look at something with him. what he shows her is pictures of the real people in the story and shows her a picture of the real Rene who we then find out has sadly died but they made this film for him.
a good film well handled and leaves a lump in your throat and makes you grateful for what you've got. its well worth the effort of putting up with the subtitles!!
suffering from a bout of insomnia i found this film by accident on bbc2 a couple of days ago and thought i'd give it a try. i was pleasantly surprised at the gentle way a tricky subject was handled.
Julie comes to work in a care home and interacts with Rene a resident who is foul mouthed ( he manages to reduce one carer to tears with his rudeness - sandrine )and he is obsessed with procreation. he is also dying. in one scene when they go shopping he even tries to embarrass julie by asking her to get him some pornographic videos from a top shelf display as he can't reach from his wheelchair. she is the only carer who takes the time to listen to Rene and ask him his needs , basically he wants to procreate and asks Julie to get him a prostitute to do so with.
Julie raises the subject at a staff meeting and the only supporter of her request for Rene is Jacques who she is romantically involved with. the director of the home eventually agrees with the request ( Rene goes on hunger strike ) on the condition that rene behaves himself. when rene does behave - Julie is set the task of arranging it all.
meanwhile the lovelorn Roland; the home handyman, yearns for Julie and does all manor of things to woo Julie , even taking her cat for a while because Jacques dosen't like felines be they real or ornament.
she manages to find a lady who's doorway can accommodate Rene's wheelchair and sets about getting a doctors permission to get Rene's wishes fulfilled. something she needs to do otherwise she and the director will fall foul of the law and be liable to arrest.
after trying 2 doctors she makes the mistake of telling the 3rd that others have refused so the 3rd also refuses , this sends Rene in to a rage so great that she decides what the hell ; Rene is right if he was a able-bodied man he could just visit florele ( the prostitute ) and no-one would bat an eyelid about it.
meanwhile at the home you have a bike mad resident who keeps taking his disability scooter out on the nationale 7 ( a type of motor or free -way that is close to the home )and nearly causing accidents. you also have two young men sharing more then just a room. one of which (rabah) wants to change his faith so as he can stay with the other one. rabah is a fan of a rock star called johnny and is very naive about changing his faith as he seems to think this will cure all his ills.
after a false start ; she cant get his wheel chair in the doorway on her own and gets sandrine to help, something that reduces them both to fits of laughter. she manages to get Rene in to the ladies van ( yes all the prostitutes work out of vans and mobile homes along the nationale 7 for some reason! ) and then the prostitute drops the bombshell that she won't put the condom on Rene and Julie has to do it.
Rene's trips to see florele is amazing he starts to be nice, calmer and even throws away his naughty films keeping only a picture of florele on his wall instead of his pin-ups. he even starts to interact with sandrine and correctly guesses that her husband who she claims to be very happy with had left her sometime ago. yes romance blossoms between them.
other residents find out about Rene's trips and also want to do the same. so Julie, Roland and sandrine take a few out for the day including rabah's man friend . rabah turns up and starts some trouble till he finds out that his friend didn't partake as he got cold feet. when he discovers that florele is a 'johnny' fan he decides on her as his godmother for his baptism.
all hell breaks loose when his choice of godmother is found out and the home threaten to stop him getting baptised. Jacques in his role of home psychiatrist tries to reason with rabah whose only reaction to being threatened is to threaten back that he'll go on hunger strike as well.
Julie realise's that Jacques is not the one for her and looks to Roland but before she can do anything about it Roland is sacked for helping the residents to protest about rabah's rights to do as he likes.
in the end rabah is baptised with godparents of his choice and Julie walks away as she feels snubbed by Roland who is rabah's choice of godfather. he does chase after her and asks her to come and look at something with him. what he shows her is pictures of the real people in the story and shows her a picture of the real Rene who we then find out has sadly died but they made this film for him.
a good film well handled and leaves a lump in your throat and makes you grateful for what you've got. its well worth the effort of putting up with the subtitles!!