The elegance of Madame Michel
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The elegance of Madame Michel |
| Original title | Le Hérisson |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 2009 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 12 JMK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mona Achache |
| script | Mona Achache |
| production | Anne-Dominique Toussaint |
| music | Gabriel Yared |
| camera | Patrick Blossier |
| cut | Julia Grégory |
| occupation | |
| |
The elegance of Madame Michel (original title: Le Hérisson ) is a French film drama from 2009. It is the literary film adaptation of the novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery .
action
Renée Michel is a concierge in a posh Parisian apartment building. Outside of work, she reads books in her small library and also eats dark chocolate from her well-stocked refrigerator. The residents of the house hardly notice her because she is perceived as old and unattractive and feels that way too. The only exceptions are the young, highly intelligent Paloma, who observes her environment closely (with a film camera ) and from whose perspective a large part of the film is portrayed, as well as the new, mysterious resident Mr. Ozu.
Paloma fears how the fish will end up in the family's goldfish bowl and decides to end her life on her 12th birthday. In order to be able to keep track of the time period, she drew a calendar on the wall in her room and provided a drawing for every day that passed.
The very educated Mr. Ozu spontaneously completed Madame Michel's quote “All happy families are similar ...” with “but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” (1st sentence in Anna Karenina ). As a result, he recognized her as a soul mate and invited her to eat in his apartment. This completely confuses Madame Michel. How should she dress? A neighbor lends her an elegant dress from the dry cleaner and has also made an appointment with the hairdresser. The evening will be very nice for both of them. Mr. Ozu cooked himself. They meet again to watch a video together.
In the meantime, Paloma is also getting closer to both Madame Michel and Mr Ozu. She films Madame Michel and spends time with her.
A few days later, Mr. Ozu invites Madame Michel to dinner. At first, she cancels, but subsequently gives Mr. Ozu to recognize that her refusal was not final. When she finds beautiful boxes with elegant wardrobes from Mr. Ozu in front of her door, she accepts the invitation and is picked up by Mr. Ozu in a limousine . Paloma is making a folded picture of the library that she pushes Madame Michel through the crack in the door that evening instead of sticking it in her mailbox. Does Madame Michel have a mailbox? She finds the craft work when she comes back from eating with Mr. Ozu.
After the evening, she reads in her reading room all night. She is obviously happy. Maybe she is in love with Mr. Ozu? When she stepped out on the street in the morning, she was hit by a car and died. Mr. Ozu covers her with his jacket - tears in his eyes. He then informs Paloma of the death of the concierge.
The film leaves open whether Paloma will implement her plan to take her own life.
background
Although the film was completed in 2008, it was not released in France until 2009 and in Germany in 2010. The cinema release in Germany was May 6, 2010.
criticism
"Subtle and humorous told, with profound dialogues and good actors, the delicately enjoyable cinema debut convinces with its tolerance and compassionate view of a human microcosm."
Web links
- The Hedgehog in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official website
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for The Elegance of Madame Michel . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , April 2010 (PDF; test number: 122 593 K).
- ↑ Age rating for The Elegance of Madame Michel . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ The elegance of Madame Michel on Moviepilot . Retrieved January 27, 2011.
- ↑ The elegance of Madame Michel. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .