My Afternoons with Margueritte
My Afternoons with Margueritte French La tte en friche is a 2010 French film directed by Jean Becker, based on the book of the same name by MarieSabine Roger. It stars Grard Depardieu, Gisle Casadesus, Claire Maurier, Maurane, and FranoisXavier Demaison. The film tells the story of an illiterate man who bonds with an older, wellread woman.
One afternoon Germain meets Margueritte, a delicate 95yearold lady who sits on the same bench to feed thepigeons that he has observed so often that he knows them by sight and has given them names. She is highly educated, a scientist who has traveled the world with the World Health Organization and now spends her life reading in the genteel retirement home in this small town. They connect over a text from The Plague by Albert Camus, but because Germain is barely literate Margueritte starts to read the book aloud to him. Slowly he starts to appreciate the beauty of words and sentences and books because he is a good listener and he has a vivid imagination. The symbolism Camus uses in this philosophical novel leads Germain to expand his horizon, making him think as never before. The pair meet every day to continue their reading sessions. A friendship develops that is healing for both, enabling Germain to face the frustrations he silently carries with him. She continues to read to him, and eventually Margueritte gives him her old dictionary. In it he tries to find words that hes interested in, but because he cant spell he find the dictionary too frustrating and decides to return it when he has agreed to come over to Marguerittes retirement home for tea. She tells him that her eyesight is gradually fading due to macular degeneration, and that she will soon no longer be able to walk unassisted. Germain decides to reverse roles and try to read to her, but first he must improve his reading skills. With Annettes support he learns to read a story aloud to Margueritte. Shortly thereafter, Germains mother dies. Despite his mothers bad attitude toward him all his life, he is still distraught when he finds her dead. At the notary he discovers that his mother owns the house he has always thought she was renting, and a sizeable fortune she has worked hard to earn, intended to bequeat that to him but never telling him about that. Meanwhile, Annette announces her pregnancy to Ger
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