The Girl From Paris

Director: Christian Carion

Billed as “the sleeper hit that has already charmed more than two million French moviegoers,” this lovely, quiet, languid and simplistic tale features two exceptional performances by actors given very little dialogue. Cesar award nominated debut film from director Christian Carion (who cowrote the screenplay with Eric Assous) stars the lovely Mathilde Seigner as Sandrine, a nearly thirty year old computer teacher who decides she’s tired of the traffic and chaos of fast paced Parisian life and enrolls in the required two year course and practicum on becoming a farmer. Once finished and undaunted by the tiresome physicality and solitude of life as a dairy farmer, not to mention some of the gruesome aspects, Sandrine purchases an isolated stretch of land in the Rhone-Alpes region from Adrien (Michael Serrault), a crusty soon-to-be retired embittered old farmer who makes her agree to the condition that he remain on the property for a few months until he’s ready to leave. While predictably the older gentleman-- without much faith in the young girl he considers cocky-- watches with annoyance and worry as she turns the place into a rural vacation getaway hotel and sells goat cheese online, soon warms to Sandrine and they become friendlier towards one another. A bit slow moving and lacking in enough action to interest a majority of filmmakers, it will definitely attract fans of Terrence Malick’s work and feels more Midwestern American than a traditional French film, and despite an abrupt and rushed finale, it’s a worthwhile contemplative study of farm life.