Although I quite enjoyed this movie and was pleasantly impressed by Michel Piccoli's quality acting, it was ultimately a bit of a disappointment and raises several questions. If the film wants to sing the praise of a great actor, it succeeds but at the same time it doesn't tell us anything we didn't know yet. If it tries to celebrate the theatre and acting at a less personal level, there are better ways of doing it. For one, concentrating on one actor, however good he may be, send the wrong signals to the audience. Second, using overly generous extracts from plays like The Tempest are only mildly interesting if you know you will not see the end of them. Moreover, although the tragedies that afflict Gilbert Valence in this film are real enough, they are depicted in such a realistic way that they fail to carry any ulterior message, in fact, any sense of real tragedy! What a pity.
Review of Je rentre à la maison
