The Scent of Mandarin

I have really liked Gilles Legrand's precedent movie ,"Tu Seras Mon Fils" ,one of my favorite French movies of the last ten years ,and I was looking forward to watching his latest.

Perhaps not as convincing as his third effort -which I urge all the users to see-,a bit too long,with an implausible deserter character (it was WW1 ,all the same!and Gourmet portrays an officer !) .There's also a tendency to enter the well-known "Lady Chatterley's lover" territory ,which ponderous symbolism such as horses (complete with covering) does not help.

That said,Gilles Legrand is a promising director :"Tu Seras Mon Fils" was so impressive a movie that almost any follow-up would fatally be a letdown.His 2015 effort ,in spite of some reservations,is well worth watching.

1918: last year of a massacre which is still present even now that Charles,who has had one leg off ,is discharged :they hint at mustard gas and lice ,and Charles does not want any child ,for fear he may be a boy who would die ("feed the worms)in the name of the homeland : a rather modern point of view for an officer !ditto for nurse Angele whose attitude puzzles the governess (portrayed by marvelous Helene Vincent who reportedly accepted this small supporting part to have the opportunity to play opposite Olivier Gourmet ,one of the Frères Dardenne's favorites )

This is a rebuilding story :a man and a woman have to rebuild their lives ,and if Charles does not believe in an artificial leg to be a man again,he will spend the whole movie just to discover that sex is not all :the last scene is revealing ,enhanced by a splendid cinematography : the country landscapes are lovingly filmed ,as though they wanted to make the soldier forget about the horrors he'd been through.