Conversation with My Gardener

A successful painter leaves Paris to return to the village in central France where he was born more than 50 years ago. Since the death of his parents the unoccupied house has been surrounded by gardens that the painter has neither the will nor the know-how to cultivate. To his great surprise his ad for a gardener is answered by an old friend from primary school. A mature, friendly bond develops between the two men that is enriched by the different experiences they have had in life. The gardener's directness and the genuine spontaneity of his worldly wisdom, in particular, captivates the metropolitan, who takes a new view of life, love, and of vegetables and funerals. The inconspicuously elegant direction of Jean Becker makes room for the meeting of two outstanding French actors, Daniel Auteuil and Jean-Pierre Darroussin, whose brilliant performances rank the story of the friendship between painter and gardener among the best French films of the year. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)