This
bittersweet film from director Sandra Nettleback (Helen) stars Michael Caine as
Matthew Morgan, a retired philosophy professor living a sad widower’s life in a
swank Parisian apartment. Unable to find any joy in his life since the death of
his wife, Morgan seems to spend every day trying to build up enough nerve to commit suicide. His outlook brightens considerable when he meets a dance
instructor named Pauline Laubie (Clémence Poésy), a young woman whose joie de
vivre rekindles Morgan’s own. They spend the first half of the movie getting to
know each other as they roam around a beautifully photographed Paris in a way
that’s fresh and interesting without any of the usually gloppy May/December
romance clichés. It’s even kind of fantastic when Morgan’s truly miserable
family shows up following one of his botched suicide attempts. There’s a point
after that, however, where the story suddenly starts to fall apart in huge
chunks that leave you wondering where all the magic has gone.
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