The Kingdom of Fungi: Why You Should Watch François Ozon's When Fall Is Coming
Michèle (Hélène Vincent) lives alone in a cozy country house. Her close friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko) resides nearby. The daily life of these (pre-)retirement age women is unpretentious: joint shopping trips, bustling around the stove and in the garden where pumpkins grow, and walks through the surrounding forests in search of mushrooms. Michèle, it seems, is not very good at identifying them, peering at them for a long time, hesitantly placing them in her basket.
Outside the window, as is easy to guess from the film's title, is a rather picturesque autumn time. The camera of Jérôme Almer (who filmed Ozon's thriller "In the House" 12 years ago) captures both the bright sun that illuminates the roofs of small houses, and the rays of light that episodically penetrate the tiny windows, and the rusty foliage that covers most of the surrounding nature. Although the frame is mostly static, nature in it flutters like a butterfly: the action is accompanied by gusts of wind, then the sound of a rushing river located on the edge of the village.
Michèle's daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier) arrives for the holidays with her grandson. The woman is concerned about the dinner, which, naturally, she prepares from freshly picked mushrooms. It seems that the path to communication with relatives lies through the stomach, but something goes wrong. Valérie throws a tantrum for no clear reason, and then loses consciousness - doctors will later report mushroom poisoning. The neighbor Marie-Claude has her own difficulties in communicating with her son Vincent (Pierre Lottin): the guy has barely left prison and cannot find a job anywhere yet.
The premiere of François Ozon's new film took place at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Unlike previous works, the film passed by major international film festivals, which was practically unheard of before. Does this mean that the current Ozon has exhausted himself and is treading water? More likely no than yes. Of course, compared to other films, "When Fall Is Coming" is not a typical story. Previously, the director reflected on a career in cinema ("Peter von Kant"), on green youth ("Summer of 85"), on the right of elderly people to life ("Everything Went Fine").
But "When Fall Is Coming" is only at first glance a simple drama about two old women. Closer to the middle, the viewer learns about the profession of the heroines: they are former sex workers. And in the second half, a real detective thriller will unfold with suspicions, understatements and hints that the matter is not clean and the initial input data only distracted attention. The events of the drama "By the Grace of God" unfolded in a similar way: if you do not know on what real events the story is based, the shock from getting acquainted with the fates of the heroes is even more vividly expressed.
Turning to the "third age," Ozon in a way returns to his roots. Films and series about people belonging to this category have become significantly more numerous in recent years both in Russia and in the world: this is "A Man Called Ove" about a touching grumpy pensioner, and "45 Years" about the hardships of a long-term marriage, and the series "Mammoths" and "Mastodon", illustrating the generational gap between the segment of our parents and grandparents. Ozon is one of the few who screens stories about characters of the "golden age", the main roles in his works were played by Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, Danielle Darrieux ("8 Women"), Hanna Schygulla ("Peter von Kant").
Each plot twist in the story of "When Fall Is Coming" adds a new portion of questions to our heroes. Are they as благостны as they seem at the beginning? Haven't the desperate pensioners conceived a complex multi-move? Maybe the insidious revenge plan, on the contrary, was invented by their children, who are extremely unpleasant to remember their young years? Each character has their own basket of grievances, a pile of unprocessed traumas - and both pass on to their children. In the dry residue, everyone here is not at all close to each other, and everyone is unhappy in their own way.
Perhaps the only thing that can confuse the Russian audience during viewing is the profession of the main heroines. In our mentality, it is not easy to admit that sex workers, firstly, get old and leave the profession, secondly, start families, buy houses in the village and serenely walk through the forest in nylon stockings, picking mushrooms. However, it is not the profession that is the trigger of Ozon's detective thriller, but the subsequent attitude towards it of the heroes' children and modern society (French in the case of the film) in which they grew up.
The main advantage of the film is undoubtedly the actors. Hélène Vincent, Josiane Balasko, Ludivine Sagnier and Pierre Lottin - each of them gives their all as if for the last time. All four, by the way, have been working with Ozon for a long time.
To say that "When Fall Is Coming" is the director's best film is still impossible: not that caliber, intonation, height, there are no caustic remarks and satirical subtext inherent in the author. Nevertheless, the work is interesting in its own way - it is done with taste and attention to the spoken theme. After such stories, you definitely want to call your mother or grandmother and say the three main words, while it is still possible.
