A bitter-sweet bit of French male fantasy, with enough wisdom and honesty to acknowledge there's a difference between fantasy and reality. Jacques is middle aged and lonely, having been dumped by his wife five months earlier. He responds by trying to behave as if he's fine, but his mess of an apartment tells otherwise. So he answers an ad for a housekeeper, and discovers the utterly sexy and adorable 20 year old Laura who gradually works her way past Jacques' emotional walls, into first his bed, and then, perhaps, his heart (why she'd fall for him is left a bit loose and hazy).
What raises this above the familiar are the lovely performances by the two leads, and Berri's willingness not to try to make the film more than it is – a simple tale of two very different people finding each other for a brief moment in the journeys of their lives.
What raises this above the familiar are the lovely performances by the two leads, and Berri's willingness not to try to make the film more than it is – a simple tale of two very different people finding each other for a brief moment in the journeys of their lives.