The read
Critics rate it 20 points higher than audiences do. It runs a compact 1h 30m.
Synopsis
The comfortable daily routines of aging Parisian actor Gilbert Valence, 76, are suddenly shaken when he learns that his wife, daughter, and son-in-law have been killed in a car crash. Having to take care of his now-orphaned grandson, he struggles to go on with his lifelong acting career like he's used to. But the roles he is offered -- a flashy TV show and a hectic last-minute replacement in an English-language film of Joyce's Ulysses -- finally convince him that it's time to retire.
Ratings
IMDb6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes96%
Metacritic88/100
Critics rate it 20 points higher than audiences do.
46 audience votes
Key crew
- Manoel de OliveiraDirector
- Manoel de OliveiraScreenplay
- Jacques ParsiWriter
Cast
- Michel PiccoliGilbert Valence
- Catherine DeneuveMarguerite
- John MalkovichJohn Crawford
- Antoine ChappeyGeorge
- Leonor BaldaqueSylvia
- Sylvie TestudAriel
- Leonor SilveiraMarie
- Isabel RuthMilkmaid
- Jean KoeltgenSerge
- Mauricette GourdonGuilhermine