When Fall Is Coming, Quand vient l’automne ,a multi-layered French film, directed and co-written by Francois Ozon, which opened in American theaters this spring, is the sort of film that a viewer can digest in several parts, kind of like a full-course meal, appetizer to entrée to dessert. While the story unfolds chronologically, there are so many elements of the characters’ pasts and such a mix of truths and deceptions, that I am carrying thoughts of this film with me hours after my screening ended.
Shot mainly in the scenic Burgundy countryside, When Fall Is Coming centers on two elderly women and their family members. Michelle and Marie-Claude are best friends. They were prostitutes together in Paris years ago, before settling into quiet rural life. Michelle has a bitter, hateful daughter and a sweet young grandson. Marie-Claude bears the shame of her son Vincent, a prisoner as the film begins.
The first drama occurs when Michelle serves fresh mushroom that she herself has picked, to her daughter and grandson at lunch. She passes and the boy passes, but her daughter indulges and soon is having her stomach pumped at the local hospital. She accuses her mother of poisoning her. I have read that such a story occurred in Ozon’s own family history.
Further dramatic events involve the old women, the daughter, and Vincent after his release from detention. The more the viewer learns about each character, the more involved they become. Some of the facts that are revealed are harmful to the characters. We wish they wouldn’t tell so much of themselves because these facts can harm them. When they lie to self-protect, I felt they were justified. In my head, I urged them to lie, to cover the truth. That’s how close I became to the characters and storyline of When Fall Is Coming. I wish more films would achieve such proximity between viewer and characters.
Helene Vincent as Michelle gives an outstanding performance. She was eighty when she shot the film, and her emotional strength and energy are enviable. Vincent, a constant central player in film and theater, is a Cesar Award winner. Starting in the 1960s, she has made stage and screen contributions and worked with such legendary filmmakers as Bertrand Tavernier, Krzysztof Kieslowski, and Diane Kurys, and actors such as Michel Piccoli.
When Fall Is Coming often is described as a thriller. I don’t think so. It’s a rather slow-moving but effective drama of complicated friendships and family relations. The scenery of rural Burgundy is so stunning, so inviting, that it sets the moods to many of the dramatic moments.
Francois Ozon has directed close to thirty features and a slew of shorts. He also writes and edits. For those who enjoy foreign film, his name is familiar; he’s considered to be a major French cinema director. For years he has been a player in significant European film festivals, and the list of his films’ award nominations—not so much wins, in those venues is quite long.
Descriptions of Ozon films stress the visual beauty of his settings, and themes of friendship, what is real, and death. He also deals with sexual identity. Swimming Pool, from 2003, starring Charlotte Rampling, is another Ozon film that has many loyal followers.
When Fall Is Coming can be streamed for a small rental fee on a number of sites, including Amazon Prime Video, You Tube, and Apple TV.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and retired appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and co-authored several entertainment biographies with her late husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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