French gem about treasures of a chance encounter

LOS ANGELES - It takes a special skill to make a film feel as soft and light as a summer breeze, and yet that is what French director Jean Becker accomplishes with My Afternoons With Margueritte, a glimpse into two ordinary lives.

This little gem is all about the nature of chance encounters and how they can change us in unexpected ways. The one on which this story hangs begins on a park bench in a small village in the French countryside. It is a place patina-ed by the years, as are the two main characters, a fragile bird-thin woman named Margueritte (Gisele Casadesus) and a giant lump of a working man, Germain (Gerard Depardieu).

For both, their encounters in the park become a respite. She's about to be moved from the comfort of the residential facility where she's been living, her family no longer willing to foot the bill. He's locked in a lifelong struggle with the profound insecurity that comes from a mother who always pegs him the fool.

They are an unlikely pair. The refined and erudite Margueritte is portrayed with a simple grace by Casadesus, who was 95 when the film was shot. An oversized Depardieu is the coarse and little educated Germain, who must hint at a stirring intellect inside that lumbering bulk. Yet their connection is immediate and the two actors are playful with each other almost from the beginning.

Solace comes from sharing ideas and emotions - Margueritte giving Germain the courage to not only read, but also to think, and Germain taking the time to become her friend. The script, which the director cowrote with Jean-Loup Dabadie and is adapted from the Marie-Sabine Roger novel, creates a kind of effortless intimacy from the start.

The film is a reminder of the pleasure to be found in simple things - reading a book, sitting on a park bench with a friend, spending an afternoon with Margueritte.

Directed by Jean Becker. With

Giséle Casadesus, Gérard Depardieu, and Claire Maurier.

In French with subtitles. Distributed by Cohen Media Group.

Running time: 1 hour, 26 mins.

Parent's guide: No MPAA rating

(mild sexuality and violence)

Playing at: Ritz at the Bourse

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