The cinema release of the week: “When Autumn Comes” takes a bold look at family and the consequences of its choices

Grandma cake always ready to help, Michelle (Hélène Vincent) apparently leads a very peaceful retirement in the countryside. But after picking mushrooms, her daughter finds herself in hospital, seriously poisoned. An “accident” with multiple consequences. Her daughter, Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier), who never accepted her mother’s past as a prostitute, no longer wants her boy, Lucas, to spend the holidays with her.

A saddening situation for Vincent, the son of his best friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko), who has barely been released from prison. Aside from Michelle, no one reached out to him. To try to sort things out, he goes to Paris to convince Valérie to reconsider her decision. An encounter which ends with another “accident” and a fall of several floors. When Valérie dies, Lucas is entrusted to his grandmother, who rediscovers the joy of living.

Through scenes from everyday life and harmless reflections, François Ozon takes an unusual, daring, sometimes confusing look at the family and the consequences of its choices. Michelle, “relieved”, in her own words, that her daughter was no longer there, did she knowingly seek to poison Valérie to “get what she wanted”namely Lucas? Is Marie-Claude right not to tell him the role played by Vincent, at the risk of destroying their friendship? Is it better to have a lie that makes everyone happy or a truth that could destroy beautiful harmony? Do we always deserve a second chance? Can we do bad things if we have good intentions? So many questions will haunt people’s minds after the screening, because François Ozon is careful not to provide clear answers.

Subtle, magnificently performed with nuance, this very slow drama, during which not much happens, appeals above all to the intelligence and hearts of the spectators. It’s impossible not to be touched by these battered people of life struggling with their little means to get by as elegantly as possible. It is also very complicated to judge them, as their facets are varied and the mitigating circumstances numerous. It’s difficult not to react to certain shocking scenes or not to get sucked into this emotional whirlwind despite the total absence of action.

This is a drama that goes against the grain of cheesy family films and deserves to be seen.