Charles et Lucie
Director: Nelly Kaplan
Writer: Nelly Kaplan, Jean Chapot, Claude Makovski
Cast: Daniel Ceccaldi, Ginette Garcin, Jean-Marie Proslier, Samson Fainsilber, Georges Claisse, Guy Grosso, Marcel Gassouk
Seen on: 25.10.2024

Plot:
Charles (Daniel Ceccaldi) and Lucie (Ginette Garcin) have been married for a long time. Charles is an antiquities dealer, which mostly means that he takes the family heirlooms and treasured possessions off Lucie to sell them behind her back. Lucie takes on small cleaning jobs to keep the family afloat and dreams of Charles paying attention to her. Their luck seems to change when a sudden inheritance from a distant relative gives them a chance at a new life. They sell everything to afford the downpayment they need to make – only to find out that they have been conned. Penniless and sought by the police, the two go on the run.

Charles and Lucie was my second foray into Kaplan’s work (the first being Papa, the Lil’ Boats) and it was much more up my alley. There is some silliness here, too, but there is a thread of warmth that runs through the portrayal of the characters that I found engaging.

Charles is an asshole, especially in his dismissal of Lucie, so I really didn’t know whether I would be able to root for him, and for them as a couple. Because that is really what the film is about: when they have everything taken away from them, all they have left is each other. And they manage to become closer through their ordeal. That I was able to see this as a good thing and not an act of desperation and lack of choices, is mostly due to the convincing performances by Ceccaldi and Garcin. And the fact that Lucie does grow some teeth in the course of events without losing herself, though.

In the end, when the two of them emerge triumphant from the rubble of their lives, I was able to cheer and smile with them (and didn’t still think that Lucie should have left Charles), which is really something given where the characters start off.

Along the way, Charles and Lucie encounter all kind of eccentrics and obstacles, not all of them equally entertaining to the audience (barely any entertaining for the characters). The film moves at a quick pace, so even when the obstacles aren’t that fun to watch, it passes quickly and the next one is likely to grab your attention again.

Through it all, though, the focus is on Charles and Lucie, as it should be. They are so much more real than the rest of the film that it doesn’t matter what they’re encounter – you’re here to watch them grow, and they do.

Summarizing: fun and surprisingly touching.