FLORENCE LOIRET CAILLE, MICHEL BOUQUET IN THE LITTLE BEDROOM

Odd buddies

This little movie from Switzerland tackles two thorny issues and patiently works to create uplift out of them. Rose (Florence Loiret Caille) is having a rocky time returning to her work as a home nurse for the elderly after a leave of absence following the personal tragedy of a stillborn child. She particularly locks horns with the cranky, negative Edmond (MIchel Bouquet), an old man with a tricky ticker who loves his plants and classical piano music more than people. His energetic late wife, once a great mountain climber, died forty years ago, and he has little use for his officious son (Joël Delsaut), who is being transferred to the US and wants to tuck Edmond safely into a retirement home for when he's away. In the fallout from the stillbirth Rose is semi-estranged from her still loving husband Marc (Éric Caravaca) who himself is temporarily off in the US with a web design partner promoting an ad campaign.

In double limbo and discontent, Rose and Edmond fall into a slightly illicit alliance that strengthens them both. Such an alliance of the challenged is not exactly an unexpected pattern, and it seems to get in the way of rather than promote more subtle development of character, but the performances of the two principals, and the film's head-on treatment of the two grave issues of the loss of a child and the isolation of old age, make this wistfully sad little film watchable --and one the Swiss, who don't have a very active film industry, chose to send to to the Best Foreign Oscars competition. Loiret Caille develops a range you wouldn't expect from her at first glance. It turns out she can be not only brittle and bitchy, but deeply sad, and when her spirit reawakens, attractive and sexy. French acting legend Michel Bouquet (The Bride Wore Black, Toto the Hero, Renoir; and many stage roles) has complete command of the screen. He not only can go from distant to twinkly but even brings momentary glimpses of Beckettian grandeur to his underwritten role.

Much of The Little Bedroom winds up seeming only workmanlike, but Loiret Caille gives her all and Bouquet can hold our attention with a wiggle of his little finger. Chuat and Raymond, who also co-wrote, add in a geographically Swiss finale by taking the principals high up in the mountains for the first part of a final reel that dots the i's and crosses the t's.

La petite chambre (the original French title), 87 mins., debuted in competition at Locarno, and is the first feature of the directing team of Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond. It won the Swiss Best Film Prize in 2011. Release of the film in France (Feb. 16, 2011) brought moderately good reviews (Allociné press rating 3.0). A US release of the film begins in NYC Sept. 26, 2014 at Cinema Village, LA release Oct. 3, and DVD and VOD releases follow Dec. 9.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.