La tête en friche (My Afternoons with Margueritte) (2011)
85%RT Audience Score: 79%
Awards & Nominations: 3 wins & 4 nominations
It’s sentimental and treacly, but that’s not enough to prevent My Afternoons with Margueritte from being truly affecting
My Afternoons with Margueritte is like a warm hug from your grandma, if your grandma was a spry 96-year-old French woman with a love for literature. Gerard Depardieu gives a touching performance as Germain, a man who finds solace and friendship in Margueritte’s company. Sure, it’s a bit predictable and cheesy at times, but who doesn’t love a good cheesy movie every now and then? Plus, Gisèle Casadesus is a delight to watch on screen. So grab some popcorn, snuggle up on the couch, and enjoy this heartwarming tale.
Production Company(ies)
New Line Cinema, Wing Nut Films, The Saul Zaentz Company,
Distributor
Cohen Media Group
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Los Angeles, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong language and some violence
Year of Release
1997
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 22m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Sep 16, 2011 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 19, 2012
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Gerard Depardieu, Gisèle Casadesus, Maurane, Patrick Bouchitey, Jean-François Stévenin, François-Xavier Demaison, directed by Jean Becker, written by Jean Becker, Jean-Loup Dabadie, genre Drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Marjorie Baumgarten, Tom Long, Joe Williams, Roger Ebert, Adam Bernstein, Mick LaSalle, Matt Brunson, Richard Propes, Laura Hiros, Anne Billson, MPAA rating, produced by Louis Becker, Cohen Media Group, Marie-Sabine Roger’s book, Margueritte, 95-year-old woman, rural French village, German, illiterate, friendship, passion, reading aloud, eyes begin to fail, love, literature, emotional abuse, teacher, flashbacks, chemistry, culture, words, caravan, garden, happy fool, cultured old woman, books, words, relationship, others, himself, adapted by Jean-Loup Dabadie, Louis Becker, Tomatometer, audience score, Caramel, Lemon Tree, The Song of Sparrows, Five Days Without Nora, Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats
Worldwide gross: $7,281,450
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $13,573,212
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,859
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,480,176
US/Canada gross: $7,281,450
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $13,573,212
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,520
US/Canada opening weekend: $3,020,015
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $5,629,552
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,075
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $18,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $33,553,456
Production budget ranking: 1,085
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $18,068,536
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$38,048,780
ROI to date (est.): -74%
ROI ranking: 1,826
Gisèle Casadesus – Margueritte
Maurane – Francine
Patrick Bouchitey – Landremont
Jean-François Stévenin – Jojo
François-Xavier Demaison – Gardini
Director(s)
Jean Becker
Writer(s)
Jean Becker, Jean-Loup Dabadie, Jean-Loup Dabadie, Jean Becker
Producer(s)
Louis Becker
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
3 wins & 4 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (62) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (53) | Rotten (9)
There’s no reason this cliché-ridden French drama should work, but it does, and there’s the beauty of it.
November 4, 2011 | Rating: 3/5
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
A sweet puff of a film, My Afternoons With Margueritte is as disarming as it is absurd.
October 14, 2011 | Rating: B
Tom Long
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
[Depardieu] is as emblematic of his country as Tom Hanks is of ours, and “My Afternoons With Margueritte” is his “Forrest Gump.” Only better.
October 14, 2011 | Rating: 3/4
Joe Williams
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TOP CRITIC
The happy ending lays it on too thick, but what the hell: In for a dime, in for a dollar.
September 29, 2011 | Rating: 3/4
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
TOP CRITIC
A predictable, undernourished love story.
September 23, 2011 | Rating: 1/4
Adam Bernstein
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
It’s a lovely movie.
September 22, 2011 | Rating: 3/4
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
The scenes between Germain and Margueritte are so strong that other sequences almost feel like filler.
May 6, 2022 | Rating: 2.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Gerard Depardieu remains one of the world’s best living actors.
September 17, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
A love story, but not the classic head-over-heels story where it’s Juliet’s destiny to meet her Romeo and live out a tragic situation that ends in tears. [Full review in Spanish]
March 23, 2018 | Rating: 3/5
Laura Hiros
Rincón de cine
Margueritte is played by Gisèle Casadesus, a spry and still beautiful 96-year-old veteran… and one of the pleasures of Becker’s film is being able to feast your eyes on a face like hers, which has an entire lifetime etched into its lines.
November 27, 2017
Anne Billson
The Arts Desk
My Afternoons with Margueritte itself is hardly brain food for viewers-it’s more like a still-warm, home-baked cookie, celluloid comfort food.
March 30, 2016
Dennis Harvey
SF360
No será una gran película, pero es un raro ejemplar en estos días cuyo hallazgo produce un placer inusual. Gérard Depardieu ofrece una actuación conmovedora.
January 24, 2012 | Rating: 3/5
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total…
Plot
Maureen is pregnant and her husband Eddie is missing. Nervous, Maureen shares a couple of drinks with neighbor Kiefer, who tries to rape her and then beats her. When Eddie returns and finds his wife bruised, he goes ballistic, shoots a paramedic and is put in a psychiatric institution. Ten years later, Eddie is released and finds that Maureen has divorced him and is remarried with three children, one of whom is his little girl Jeanie. Eddie goes to reclaim his wife.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Gisèle Casadesus, who plays Margueritte, was 96 years old at the time of filming and had been acting for over 80 years.
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