It takes a lot of guts to fulfill such a role.
Kudos to you,Philippe Guenot:this is your best comment so far!Or at least my favorite of yours !
I am amazed by the very weak rating:this is not a subject hip people dig. Of course De Sica's harrowing " Umberto D "(1951) comes to mind (it is more or less its remake:Cesare Zavattini is credited);the most memorable scene of De Sica's masterwork is included :Belmondo holds out his hand to beg but he says he 's only looking if it is raining!And it roughly follows its plot. Francis Huster lets his cine buff inspiration flow:
For instance,the sequence in the church will fatally remind the viewer of "Leon Morin Pretre" by Melville this memorable sequence when Emmanuelle Riva tells Belmondo that religion is the opium of the people ;to hear her reciting the gospel depicting Christ's death is gripping.
It also recalls Julien Duvivier's masterpiece "La Fin Du Jour " (1939): in a house for retired people ,it depicted the sad end of aging actors :that may explain the numerous cameos by very famous actors :Robert Hossein's appearance does not exceed a few seconds (you read well) and a somber Bergmanian Max Von Sydow seems to have definitely lost his chess game with death.Pierre Mondy seems to cling to the tree of life but his words depict a depressing reality. Never perhaps since the great Duvivier,a French director had shown the wrinkled faces in close shot ,hoping against hope,and trying to smile in spite of everything.
The young generation is featured too and then again,the choice of the actors is not gratuitous : Sarah Biasini is Romy Schneider's daughter ,the late actress with whom Belmondo had one of his first important supporting parts (Ein Engel Auf Erde ,1959);as Philippe points out in his insightful review, Jean Dujardin is Belmondo' s successor .
Belmondo gives one of his best performances, a very restrained playing;his commitment to his part is extraordinary.Sometimes we feel he attends these scenes of everyday life,but he does not care anymore,as if he were in another world where only his doggie has a place ;it's not a movie you leave unscathed: the man's fate and all his friends ' is our universal fate ,that's why people do not accept the fact that time waits for no one and it won't wait for us all either.
It will probably be Belmondo's swansong : Salut l'Artiste!
