Yesterday I went to see Francois Ozon’s latest film When Autumn Falls, which was released in the UK a week last Friday. I had seen the film before, at the London Film Festival in October, however five months have past since then, so I felt it was worth another viewing.

I first came across Ozon with Frantz, strongly recommended by Mark Kermode, and since then he has become one of my favourite directors – I have seen all his subsequent work and tracked down virtually all of his earlier films on DVD. He has been criticised for not having a consistent style, but to me that is one of his strengths – he rarely fails to both surprise and delight. Sometimes I think Ozon makes films which emulate and celebrate those of other film-makers he admires, consider 8 Women as his Jacques Demy film. To me, When Autumn Falls feels like a Claude Chabrol plot as realised by Eric Rohmer – praise indeed!

The film tells the story of two lifelong friends, Michelle and Marie-Claude, enjoying their peaceful retirement in a quaint Burgundy village, far-removed from Paris where, in another lifetime, they were somewhat unconventional ‘work-colleagues’. Michelle loves her quiet routine, though looks forward to the visits of her young grandson, Lucas. However, her relationship with Lucas’s mother, her only daughter Valérie, leaves much to be desired and when Michelle accidentally hospitalises Valérie, having picked the wrong mushrooms, that relationship is stretched beyond breaking point.

At about this time Marie-Claude’s only son Vincent is released from prison for a crime which is never disclosed to us and Michelle helps him out by offering to pay him for working in her garden.

Michelle grieves for the loss of her relationship with her grandson; Vincent is grateful to her and wants to help; Marie-Claude looks on with a sense of foreboding. The stage is set, but I cannot reveal anything further without spoiling this beautifully-crafted plot.

What I love about the film, in addition to the story we are told, is the details it keeps to itself – basically the who knows what and when. This is never quite revealed to us, and in particular, we leave the cinema wondering just how much Michelle knew and/or suspected.

Ozon, who not only directs but wrote and produced the film, has brought together a cast who he previously used in supporting roles in By the Grace of God in 2019. In occupying the role of Michelle, Hélène Vincent gives the performance of a lifetime: a masterclass in understatement; and Josiane Balasko is just right in the supporting role of her friend Marie-Claude. Between the two of them, they have over one hundred years of filmmaking experience. Pierre Lottin as Vincent adds an air of the unknown to this quietly smouldering thriller – why was he in prison and just what is he capable of?

I whole-heartedly recommend this film. I very much enjoyed spending time with these fascinating characters, with their long-buried secret, rather disreputable, pasts and I love films that leave me wondering what really happened.

Incidentally, I am sixty-five years old today, and so might be considered to be entering my own Autumn years; indeed, just a few weeks ago I wrote a poem entitled Autumn. In case anyone is interested, here it is:

Autumn

It is not the things we did together that I shall miss, 
     but the things we never got around to doing
Not the places that we visited en famille, 
     but the places we shall never get to share
Not trekking through Paris, family in tow, 
     but taking morning coffee à deux, at a little tabac in a Gallic village square
Not beer and crisps on the Yorkshire riviera, 
     but leisurely chiantis on the terrace as the sun sets over Capri
Yes, I shall still do New England in the fall, 
     but with some or other friend; it will not be as imagined
No, it’s not the moments burned into my memory that I shall miss, 
     but our hopes and dreams, as they slowly ebb away