THE GROCER'S SON/Austin Film Society

I approached this evening's Essential Cinema film enthusiastically because I am the daughter of a grocer.  And for me that brought back wonderful memories of my father's grocery store in the Bronx where he was the warm and personable center of a neighborhood where people came to shop, chat and share their woes.  I remember being parked out in front of that store in a stroller with everyone stopping to play with me before entering.  This evening, in such contrast, we see a young man return home to his provincial French village to help his Mom run a store and drive a grocery delivery van after his Dad suffers a heart attack.  The son and the father are brooding, unhappy, disappointed men.  A brother is clinically depressed and the household is riddled with tension when the Dad returns from the hospital.  The mother is a strong, no frills woman trying to hold it together.  Thank goodness for a young woman who brings color into their lives and warmth into the son's heart.  She teaches him how to sell, how to relate, how to make the gig appealing.  And then she leaves and he's on his own.  He learns eventually how to compromise, how to be generous, flexible and begins to find his own identity as this traveling grocer. The movie ends well.  The cinematography is beautiful, frequently reminding me of a Cezanne painting.  The film is in French made by Eric Guirado, a documentary filmmaker,  in 2007.  Abe and I loved it. Thank-you to AFS and Freestyle Language Center for bringing this film to Austin.