I must confess I have become a huge fan of both Techine and Daniel Auteuil after watching "My Favourite Season". Simply love it love it love it! Techine is the master in movie character developments and excellent at developing and embodies personal tensions and interactions between characters. In "Wild Reeds", it was among 4 teenagers and in "My Favourite Season", it's among family members and it was done superbly and extremely convincingly.
The human emotions, conscience and tensions between siblings, between parents and children (both Berthe's and Emilie's children), between spouses, between a son-in-law and mother-in-law, between an uncle and his nieces were written and acted out extremely authentically and unpretentiously. It hits right at you and set you thinking about your own relatives and the corresponding tensions and relationships in your own life. This is so crude yet so real and audience are left to be awed at how genuine and honest this is especially for those who can feel connected to one of some of the characters.
A few scenes were utterly moving and sweet to me. Antoine and Emilie singing in the car with Berthe listening and could not helping smiling from her heart in the backseat. The scene where Antoine rushed back to his flat to check on his ill and depressed sister fearing that she would plunge off the balcony. The scene where Antoine deliberately "fell" from the balcony just to attract attention from her angry sister. Not to mention the extremely beautiful and touching discussions about favourite seasons at the end which built up to an incredible climax at the end, so typically spectacularly done by Techine.
I admire Daniel Auteuil who portrays Antonie very fittingly. Confidently, self-righteous yet passionate successful surgeon, Daniel was very convincing and makes Antonie a highly likable and romantic character throughout.
Personally, I would rate "My Favourite Season" higher than "Wild Reeds", even though both are absolutely amazing and beautiful character studies. I wish this is not yet the best of Techine as I expect more of this good stuff from this truly wonderful and unique director. This is among my all time favourites, closely followed by "Wild Reeds" and "You can count on me" in this similar genre.
The human emotions, conscience and tensions between siblings, between parents and children (both Berthe's and Emilie's children), between spouses, between a son-in-law and mother-in-law, between an uncle and his nieces were written and acted out extremely authentically and unpretentiously. It hits right at you and set you thinking about your own relatives and the corresponding tensions and relationships in your own life. This is so crude yet so real and audience are left to be awed at how genuine and honest this is especially for those who can feel connected to one of some of the characters.
A few scenes were utterly moving and sweet to me. Antoine and Emilie singing in the car with Berthe listening and could not helping smiling from her heart in the backseat. The scene where Antoine rushed back to his flat to check on his ill and depressed sister fearing that she would plunge off the balcony. The scene where Antoine deliberately "fell" from the balcony just to attract attention from her angry sister. Not to mention the extremely beautiful and touching discussions about favourite seasons at the end which built up to an incredible climax at the end, so typically spectacularly done by Techine.
I admire Daniel Auteuil who portrays Antonie very fittingly. Confidently, self-righteous yet passionate successful surgeon, Daniel was very convincing and makes Antonie a highly likable and romantic character throughout.
Personally, I would rate "My Favourite Season" higher than "Wild Reeds", even though both are absolutely amazing and beautiful character studies. I wish this is not yet the best of Techine as I expect more of this good stuff from this truly wonderful and unique director. This is among my all time favourites, closely followed by "Wild Reeds" and "You can count on me" in this similar genre.