I'm Going Home

Customer Reviews:

A magnificent offering from a man as old and as wise as cinema itself...........2006-08-27

This is a gentle, simple, calming film. Manoel de Oliveira, the director, was 93 when he made this film. He is the world's oldest working director. The film is one of the most unhurried, serene films I've ever seen. Many will say it's too slow and boring. I prefer unhurried. The takes are long, the conversations are quiet, yet it seems like a lifetime happens. The story unfolds in a unique, disquieting way, and the film really just ends. The main character (Michel Piccoli) just goes home at the end of the film, and that's it. No wrap up, no conclusion. That's probably the point. I don't like to analyse these things too much, so I won't go into symbolism and what have you. Only a handful of Manoel's films are available in the US, but you should check them all out. Kudos to Michel Piccoli and John Malkovich for excellent, understated performances. Just one small complaint. The DVD cover makes the film look like some sappy, overly sentimental film about a man and his grandson. It isn't at all. Watch the interview with Manoel. He was 93 at the time, yet looks 30 years younger. He's still making interesting, great films. He's an inspiration to all...

THE BEAUTY IS IN THE DETAILS.......2005-05-28

A relatively short bitter sweet movie about an aging French actor, Michel Piccoli, who is nearing the end of his distinguished career when a tragic accident takes the lives of most of his family, except for one little boy whom he undertakes to look after. Catherine Deneuve has a minor, but not a cameo, role of little significance.The American actor John Malkovich has an important supporting role as an English speaking movie director. The tale embodied in the movie is very simple and predictable but the charm of the film is in the brilliant photography and sounds. It is a great little artistic work. Wonderful clear shots of sights and sounds of contemporary everyday Paris but the beauty is in the details. The Portuguese director, Manuel de Oliveira, is obviously a very good observer of everyday human traits, Aren't we all? But he incorporates them into his movies as nobody else does. The importance of the habitual table, for one specific character who has nothing otherwise to do with the main theme of the film (he is listed in the final credits as "Client with Le Figaro"), at the place where he regularly get takes his petit dejeuner and reads his daily newspaper headlines; the organ grinder, men's shoes as a setting for a conversation, the significance of an old semi-dilapidated town house of faded elegance where the actor dwells, etc, etc. All but the last 15 minutes of the movie are in French, most of the last being in English , for reasons which will not be revealed here but will become obvious to the viewer.

Michel Piccoli gives a radiant performance.......2003-12-20

Meet popular actor Gilbert Valence (Michel Piccoli) during a performance of Eugene Ionesco's "Le roi meurt". The king - symbol of all dictators - is dying, but does not, does not, does not die. They should erect monuments for him. All he wants to leave is scorched earth...The Queen (Catherine Deneuve in her only scene) lists his crimes...The king is also symbolic of all those aging actors who missed the opportunity to leave the stage on time. They still cling to her dwindling fame..

Valence lost his daughter and his wife in a car accident. He has just Serge, his grandson. Thy have a good relationship and enjoy each other's company. The stage is at the center of Valence's professional life (we see Piccoli also in scenes from "Ulysses" and "the tempest"), but between performances he accepts tv and film offers. His agent urges him to take a young mistress. But Valence wants to preserve his "solitudine", and does not intent to play the "old fool". His agent has an ulterior motive: he wants him to star in a may-december romance with many bed-scenes because "this is what the audience wants". He has also another offer: A Hollywood director (John Malkovich) needs him as pinch-hitter. Valence makes many mistakes during the rehearsal. His director corrects him patiently. During shooting Valence suddenly gives up: I'm going home...

Michel Piccoli's relaxed, nearly radiant performance is this film's "raison d'etre". It contains two imaginative vignettes: Piccoli buys himself expensive shoes. During the scene with his agent we hear him talk, but his shoes do all the acting. This same evening they are robbed, and he has to go to the negotiation with his old shoes. Same trick during the rehearsal: Piccoli reads his lines, but we can guess his performance only from Malkovich's facial expression. Charming moments, but the film is terribly slow. Minutes seem like hours...

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