La villa (2017)

Directed by: Robert Guediguian | 107 minutes | drama | Actors: Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gérard Meylan, Jacques Boudet, Anaïs Demoustier, Robinson Stévenin, Yann Trégouët, Geneviève Mnich, Fred Ulysse, Diouc Koma, Haylana Bechir, Ayoub Oaued, Giani Roux, Esther Seignon

Somewhere near Marseille is the picturesque bay of Calanque de Méjean. There are hardly any tourists anymore and except for a young fisherman the population consists mainly of old stragglers. When one of those stragglers has a stroke one day, his offspring come to assess the damage and see what needs to be done. Daughter Angèle is a successful middle-aged actress, son Joseph is a left-wing intellectual who has exchanged his ideals for a very young girlfriend. Son Armand, who never left the bay, now runs the idealistic budget restaurant Mange-Tout.

In the French drama ‘La villa’ we get to know these returnees, where we soon learn that Angèle has not visited the bay in years due to a horrific trauma. We also meet the exhausted couple Suzanne and Martin and their lively son Yvan. About three quarters of the film proceeds as a French arthouse film usually does: there is plenty of chatter about anything and everything. Conversations about plays, about the fate of left-wing baby boomers, about fishing at sea. Most of the things that are said make sense, just not always very interesting. The flashbacks are too theatrical and that also applies to a suddenly budding love.

For a long time, ‘La Villa’ resembled a fairly successful Rohmer imitation, topped with a melancholy sauce. Until a new element (x3) shows up half an hour before the end. This new element (x3) fits in well with the theme of the film (transience), but also ensures that the melancholy gives way to hope and to the uplifting idea that where things go down, new things always arise. The natural course of seasons, that idea. It’s that new element (x3) that gives the drama a much-needed boost.

With its slow pace, picturesque setting and continuously clapping characters, ‘La villa’ is a film that rarely irritates. Amusing, relaxed and above all very French. Doable, although afterwards you feel more like a trip to Calanque de Méjean than in the complete oeuvre of director Robert Guédiguian.