My Afternoons with Margueritte

2010/ French/ 82 mins/ Dir.Jean Becker
Cast:  Gérard Depardieu, Gisèle Casadesus, François-Xavier Demaison, Maurane, Patrick Bouchitey, Jean-François Stévenin, Claire Maurier, Sophie Guillemin

It’s the story of one of those improbable encounters that can change the course of one’s life: the encounter, in a small public garden, between Germain, fifty and barely literate, and Marguerite, a little old lady passionate about reading. Forty years and 15 stone separate them. One day, purely by chance, Germain sits down beside Marguerite. She’ll go on to read aloud extracts from novels and thereby allow him to discover the magic of books, from which Germain imagined he was excluded for life. Until then, his family circle and drinking buddies took him for an idiot; stupidity will now change places! But Marguerite is losing her sight. For the love of this charming, mischievous and caring grandmother, Germain will teach himself and show her that he’s capable of reading aloud to her when she is no longer able to do so herself.