Les Petits ruisseaux (2010)
Directed by Pascal Rabaté

Film Review

You're never too old to have a good time - that's the moral of this diverting little comedy which first-time director Pascal Rabaté adapted from his popular comic book.  At a time when cinema has never been so youth-orientated and when everyone seems to be obsessed with looking young, Les Petits ruisseaux feels like a breath of fresh air, reassuring us that being old and having fun are not mutually exclusive.

Much of the film's charm lies in the way it downplays its somewhat subversive concept (namely that an a septuagenarian can enjoy a healthy love life) by adopting a style that is more in keeping with the conventional view of old age (i.e. such as we would find in a typical Jean Becker film).  You can easily imagine a version of this film which had a much more punchy presentation, in which the principal characters behaved like drug-crazed geriatric teddy boys.  Wisely, Rabaté did not go down this more truculent path and instead delivers a gentler film in which the characters are not ridiculous caricatures but recognisable senior inhabitants of our own world, albeit ones who prefer a night of passion to one that revolves around a mug of Horlicks and a Jilly Cooper novel.

Daniel Prévost is superb as the main protagonist, the solitary old widower who rejuvenates before our eyes as he rediscovers his taste for life and his love for the pleasures of the flesh.   It is a wonderfully humane and nuanced performance which takes what appears, on the face of it, to be an outré premise and makes it real and rather endearing.  Just why shouldn't a 70-year-old live like a reckless adolescent?  Just why shouldn't he extract as much happiness from his last few precious drops of life?  What are we here for if not to enjoy ourselves?

Les Petits ruisseaux is likely to be controversial, since it boldly challenges us to confront our prejudices about old age and accept that the young do not own the exclusive rights to hedonism.  Yet its characters are portrayed so sympathetically that anyone who watches it cannot fail to be bowled over by its charm and humanity.  After all, life doesn't end when you stop working.  Au contraire...

Film Synopsis

After the death of his wife, Emile now leads a peaceful file in contented retirement.  He is happy to let the days slip by as he fishes peacefully on the verdant banks of the Loire with his good friend Edmond.  Taking Emile into his confidence, Edmond reveals that despite his advanced age he still has an incredibly active love life - as the lurid paintings in his studio amply demonstrate.  Emile is upset when his friend dies suddenly from a heart attack and decides there and then to follow his example and live life to the full.  He may be over seventy, but Emile suddenly feels a resurgence of life in the presence of the dead man's former lover, Lucie.  He turns down an invitation to spend his holidays with his son and instead he devotes himself to the young woman who has given him a new reason for living...