Michelle is enjoying a peaceful retirement in a Burgundy village, close to her longtime friend Marie-Claude. When her Parisian daughter Valérie drops off her son Lucas to spend school vacation with his grandma, Michelle, stressed out by her daughter, serves her toxic mushrooms for lunch. Valérie quickly recovers, but forbids her mother from seeing her grandson anymore. Feeling lonely and guilty, Michelle falls into a depression... until Marie-Claude's son gets out of prison.
The Garden Cinema View:
What starts as a stereotypically French arthouse-style, mild meditation on late age and its discontents proves to be a complex and taut whodunnit by the always unpredictable François Ozon.
In Hitchcockian fashion, every carefully constructed scene ushers in fresh doubt, and poses a new question, transforming this into a deliciously unnerving experience. The acting ensemble is exquisite, particularly Hélène Vincent, whose face becomes a canvas on which the audience can project their discomfort, as she shifts between vulnerability and omniscience.
Although When Autumn Falls works as an electrifying thriller, Ozon never loses sight of what he does best: shedding light on the complexities and nuances of human relationships beyond right or wrong.
