Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

GiGiGix3 I have just come from the FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL in Richmond, VA (2008), where I saw this film. I don't view a lot of American films, so I can't adequately compare, but I do know American film makers don't develop relationships between people the way French film makers do. While American films seem to give little short glimpses into people's lives, French film makers give us long conversations between actors and show us how one person can change the life of another.In this film, the artist comes home to his roots. When he advertises for a gardener to work the potager at his old family home, an old school mate applies for the job. As they reconnect through the work, each contributes to the other's life. It's interesting to see how the artist's paintings changed as he was influenced by his friend.The film deals with life, death, family, gardening, painting, sickness and other realities of life. The scenery is beautiful, the actors realistic, and the story believable.When the director answered questions at the end of the screening, it was very interesting to hear the Americans trying to insert and look for symbolism in many of the scenes, but the director's replies indicated that symbolism was not intended, rather bare content.I so enjoyed this film and wish I had a copy of it to entertain others with at my home. English subtitles are there, but if you understand French, you will get much more out of this movie. I found the English subtitles very British and not conveying the French spirit at times, but if you don't know the difference, it won't matter.

mmunier Our usual group of 4 Dutch, Filipino, Chinese Malaysian, and French did enjoy so much this movie screened in Sydney these past few weeks. As said before simple but without simplicity. This was also my sentiment, I imagine my french background took my enjoyment even a little further. I can't say I never had much passion for gardening although I do appreciate nature in general. But I like animals and people behaviour; it is so often fascinating. This is what this story did for me, it brought fascinating union and mutual respect between two very different people, this in a rather natural way. I let myself go with the gentle flow of the tale and rode the few bumps here and there as life scatters them. I won't talk about the story line since I'm sure it's been read many time before these lines. There weren't a crowd either in the cinema, only one more couple and one lone other person. Yet the story took you from the start and you did not need a crowd around to help you along. It was almost like a personal experience that somehow made you feel as if you were part of this dialogue. I do much appreciate Daniel Auteuil whom I discovered for the first time with G de Pardieu in "Jean des Florettes" and "Manon des Sources" Much as happened since and for both of them but one seems to have been imunised from Hollywood and is better for it in my opinion.

guy-bellinger Suppose another civil war broke out in France some day, well, Jean Becker might start it! Indeed because of him the country is now divided into two fratricidal sides: the spectators and the critics! As for the spectators, they flock to Jacques Becker's son's films and invariably love all he has done from "les Enfants du Marais" (1998). I personally -just like everybody else except the critics - have been amused and touched by the aforementioned movie as well as "Un crime au Paradis", "Effroyables Jardins" and his latest opus "Dialogue avec mon Jardinier". Simple but not simplistic, moving without being overly sentimental, humane but not populist, Jean Becker's last picture talks directly to the heart .On the other side you have the critics. This happy few are beside themselves with a man who dares show ordinary unaffected characters rather than Paris intellectuals between themselves, who tries to make our daily lives better rather than denigrate all the values not deemed valid by their highbrow circle. But let the civil war start: we spectators outnumber the critics by far. They are bound to be defeated!As is always the case with Becker's recent movies, the story is very simple, not depending on plot twists or dramatic ups and downs to exist. However if you read the eponymous book (by Henri Cueco) which inspired the film, you will realize that the adaptation work (by talented Jean Cosmos) was no pleasure cruise. The title of Cueco's book ("Dialogue avec mon Jardinier") is telling in this respect: It has no storyline to speak of. It all amounts to a conversation between a Paris artist and his local gardener at the former's family house. Even more difficult, in the text, consisting mainly in the gardener's replies, there is no such thing as a real dialogue. You actually get to know the artist through the gardener's answers. How anti cinematographic! A carbon copy was impossible and Cosmos set about bringing on a few changes. Of course, he fleshed out the painter's character, modified a few facts (the artist is on the verge of divorce, he has a daughter about to marry, the circle of artists he used to mix with is described and satirize - hence the critics' reaction! - ; the gardener has become the artist's childhood friend, he does not a have a young daughter…) and created a subplot (concerning mostly the relationships between the artist, his separated wife and his young adult daughter). This way, although there is not much action other than an evolution in the characters' minds and feelings, "Dialogue avec mon Jardinier" functions as a true film, with a beginning, a middle and an end. But what is the most remarkable is that the dialogue of the book is transposed in full, with only a few minor additions or deletions. Such wonderful work allows Becker's last movie to attract the viewer while remaining faithful to the spirit of Cueco's original work: a sophisticated artist learns the basics of life while a John Doe is introduced to a world that totally escaped him before and enrich their minds mutually as a result.The text is served by two outstanding actors, Daniel Auteuil (as subtle and humane as he can be) and Jean-Pierre Darroussin (absolutely amazing as the down-to-earth but not common gardener).When you leave the theater you feel peaceful and happy despite the heart-breaking ending. It is the (French) critics' loss if they make all the efforts in the world to dislike such a beautiful film.

sebrenaud I found the movie rather disappointing. Despite an excellent director and a great cast, the movie doesn't rise above the caricature of what life "should" be in the French countryside.Auteuil and Daroussin are both struggling with dialogs that sound too poetic to be true. I couldn't help thinking that the "poetic gardener" character is just the idea that Parisian intellectuals have of life outside the capital.That might also be one of the few movies where Auteuil just doesn't get it right.If you want to watch a Jean Becker movie, pick any but not this one...