Conversations with My Gardener (2007)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Absolutely the worst movie.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

This is a nice film. Not too twee. A bit better than bland. It rolls easy-goingly along.I'm writing this review about a month after watching it. Usually i'll watch films a second time in order to review them – but with this i don't feel the need. I got the point the first time round. The point being: middle-aged friendship between blokes is something to be nurtured, treasured.I reckon Auteuil and Darroussin – a pair of safe solid hands – didn't have to stretch themselves too far to play these roles. It seemed as easy for them acting it as it is for us watching it. The brotherly bonhomie between the two appeared inherent, generous, unaffected.Darroussin (The Gardener) gently undermines Auteuil (The Artist) bourgeois values with simple ignorance – or better put, peasant commonsense; calls Auteuil "The Dauber". The Gardener hasn't got The Artists wider range of experience, or supposedly higher culture – but he knows a thing or two (like always having on your person a pocket knife and some string) The Dauber finds The Gardener's lack of pretension, his salt of the earth, ordinary simplicity, appealing – and eventually, even quietly enlightening.Its feel-good cinema but understated; little feelings are allowed to bubble up subtly, like small ripples on a naturally occurring pond – while waiting patiently for that feel-good fish to present himself.I'll watch it again when i'm in a dozy fishing kind of mood.Its extremely pleasant. Lol

Jean Becker makes extremely typical french films, with lots of dialog, and masterful mise en scene. This film plays again with one of his favorite subjects, the wisdom of the uncultivated, working class simpletons, as opposed to the stiff way of life of the cultivated bourgeoisie. More or less. The story, a painter who goes back to the village of his childhood and befriends a retired railroad worker he hires as gardener ad happens to be an old childhood friend, serves well as an excuse for a series of enlightening dialogs and thoughts over class, life, struggle, love, etc. When it ends you have been entertained brilliantly for 90 minutes, and you are also left with something to think about.

Internationally known as "Conversations with My Gardener" this film deals with an artist that moves back to his small country side village of birth after living in the hectic and fast paced Paris for a good number of years. He is still married but divorce is on the way and is in desperate need of a change.Once back on the country side he hires a gardener to work his garden while he works his art and as it turns out the gardener is a childhood friend of his that has been living in the village his whole life. When the two meet again they start reliving old memories and conversing about just about everything and inspiring each other in many ways, both learning something they had long since forgotten.Beautiful imagery, nice mellow music, realism. But above all, a sparkling unity between the two main characters. With that the film has all the ingredients to be a great film. It falters on only a few spots and IMO the one place where it really fails is by taking a very often used cliché to add some events to the ending that work toward a quicker ending but toward nothing else.8 out of 10 long talks on a midsummer night

I have just come from the FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL in Richmond, VA (2008), where I saw this film. I don't view a lot of American films, so I can't adequately compare, but I do know American film makers don't develop relationships between people the way French film makers do. While American films seem to give little short glimpses into people's lives, French film makers give us long conversations between actors and show us how one person can change the life of another.In this film, the artist comes home to his roots. When he advertises for a gardener to work the potager at his old family home, an old school mate applies for the job. As they reconnect through the work, each contributes to the other's life. It's interesting to see how the artist's paintings changed as he was influenced by his friend.The film deals with life, death, family, gardening, painting, sickness and other realities of life. The scenery is beautiful, the actors realistic, and the story believable.When the director answered questions at the end of the screening, it was very interesting to hear the Americans trying to insert and look for symbolism in many of the scenes, but the director's replies indicated that symbolism was not intended, rather bare content.I so enjoyed this film and wish I had a copy of it to entertain others with at my home. English subtitles are there, but if you understand French, you will get much more out of this movie. I found the English subtitles very British and not conveying the French spirit at times, but if you don't know the difference, it won't matter.