But still a very good example, structurally, of a short story made into a full-length film.
As fantastic as the premise involved in a May-December romance may be, there is enough here to suggest a very common experience any middle-aged single man of reasonable looks and standing in life has encountered from time to time. Namely, it is not at all uncommon, whether in France or any other country, for young women to be attracted to older men. The cause is almost unimportant -- it just does happen.
Where this filmed short story finds its climax and denouement is in the equally common realization at some critical point that such a "menage" (to echo the French title) is at best fragile and unlikely to sustain itself for long. That point here is the protagonist's cramping up at the very worst possible time, just when it seems possible he could take a new course that holds the promise of resolving the tangle he has got himself into.
Sure, it's a simple film, very low budget -- but the beauty of it is how nearly perfectly it progresses as a story from beginning to end. Proof that a French film can be subtle and engaging without being complex at the same time.
As fantastic as the premise involved in a May-December romance may be, there is enough here to suggest a very common experience any middle-aged single man of reasonable looks and standing in life has encountered from time to time. Namely, it is not at all uncommon, whether in France or any other country, for young women to be attracted to older men. The cause is almost unimportant -- it just does happen.
Where this filmed short story finds its climax and denouement is in the equally common realization at some critical point that such a "menage" (to echo the French title) is at best fragile and unlikely to sustain itself for long. That point here is the protagonist's cramping up at the very worst possible time, just when it seems possible he could take a new course that holds the promise of resolving the tangle he has got himself into.
Sure, it's a simple film, very low budget -- but the beauty of it is how nearly perfectly it progresses as a story from beginning to end. Proof that a French film can be subtle and engaging without being complex at the same time.