Et si on vivait tous ensemble?
Director: Stéphane Robelin
Writer: Stéphane Robelin
Cast: Guy Bedos, Daniel Brühl, Geraldine Chaplin, Jane Fonda, Claude Rich, Pierre Richard
Part of: Festival du film francophone

Plot:
Jean (Guy Bedos) and Annie (Geraldine Chaplin), Jeanne (Jane Fonda) and Albert (Pierre Richard), and Claude (Claude Rich): the five of them have been friends for ages. Then Claude has a heart attack, Albert’s starting dementia is becoming more and more apparent and Jeanne gets a rather devastating diagnosis, and they decide that it would be perfect if they all lived together. Joining them is the young anthropologist Dirk (Daniel Brühl) who wants to write his doctor thesis about their project. But living together doesn’t only have advantages and things do get a little tricky.

Et si on vivait tous ensemble? is a funny, sweet and touching movie about getting old that brings a fresh aspect to a topic that is rarely mentioned. I loved it.

As you might have noticed if you been reading this blog for a while, I’m a cast person. Actors and actresses I like will be the first thing that draws me to a movie. [Then it’s directors, writers and finally plot.] And there’s this cast here: how could I not want to see this film? And they really were wonderful, each in their own way but especially as an ensemble.

And I loved the idea of moving together with your friends when you’re old to support each other. I had to think of my grandma a lot – I think she would love that, if it was a more common option, just moving in with her Bridge circle (as long as everyone has their own space ;).

But even though the movie was fun and light-hearted, it didn’t gloss over the hard parts. Albert really is succumbing to dementia and that’s just as bitter as it sounds. And Jeanne really is very sick. It’s not like they ignore the bad stuff, they just don’t see it as a reason not to have fun.

And that is just a very charming approach that works extremely well.

Summarising: completely recommended.