Margaret (Sophie Marceau) is a successful, hard-hitting business woman who is in a happy relationship with her colleague Malcolm (Marton Csokas). On her 40th birthday, she gets a visit from a retired lawyer (Michel Duchaussoy) who brings her a letter she wrote to herself when she was 7 years old. Margaret has no interest in going down memory lane since she is content with her life. but in the end she can’t resist the temptation. The letters keep on coming and slowly, Margaret starts evaluating her life and trying to reconcile where she is now with where she wanted to end up.
I loved this film. L’âge de raison is sweet, well-made fluff that works on every level. And it’s fun! But despite its fluffiness, it’s also an intelligent movie about finding yourself and not losing sight of who you wanted to be.
Yann Samuell’s first movie, Jeux d’enfants, was incredible and completely blew me away. And then he just vanished and was never heard of again – until this film. And it really doesn’t disappoint, despite the long wait. Samuell has a wonderful vision of childhood that just gets to me. I wish my childhood was that aesthetic and filled with fantasy.
But that’s not the only thing that I loved. The way Margaret starts examining her life and the changes she makes are perfectly handled. She’s not really unhappy when the letters start coming, though her life is not perfect, so she doesn’t need to change everything (as is customary in these films), just the right things.
And the whole thing is topped off with a great sense of humor and a wonderful cast. Sophie Marceau is great, Marton Csokas charming and Michel Duchaussoy is like the perfect grandfatherly figure.
The film just left me smiling and happy and with a certain bounce in my step for the rest of the evening. Absolutely perfect entertainment. And it seems like, the next Yann Samuell isn’t too far off: he just did an adaptation of The War of the Buttons. That will be extremely interesting to watch.
Summarising: Go and see it. And while you’re at it, see Jeux d’enfants as well.
