‘Ensemble, c’est tout’ (2007) is the last film that Claude Berri wrote (based on a novel by Anna Gavalda) and directed to the end. His filmography ends with another film (‘Trésor’), which he was unable to finish and see released, the film being completed by another director. ‘Ensemble, c’est tout‘ can therefore be considered as a beautiful end to his career, a ‘feel-good’ film, having at its center a love story as it happens with many of his successful films. The title, oddly enough, fits the story. It was strangely translated in the English distribution as ‘Hunting and Gathering’ (!).
The film has four main characters, and at the beginning of the story none of them seems too happy. Paulette, an old woman who lives alone in her house, surrounded by her beloved cats and parrots falls, fractures her hip and has to be hospitalized for surgery and a long recovery. Her grandson, Franck, the only one who takes care of her, is exhausted from his work as a chef in a restaurant and also takes care of his grandmother (and her cats). Franck lives in a huge apartment with Philibert, a young man from an aristocratic family, a rich boy, unhappy as well because he aspires to become a stand-up actor despite an obvious stutter. In the same Parisian building lives Camille, a pretty and modest girl, a talented portretist, who works hard as a cleaning woman for a living. The four loners will grow closer and turn their relationships into friendships and more than that.
The recipe for this kind of films can be found in the American comedies of the 40s and 50s of the last century. The role of young Camille is played by Audrey Tautou, an actress I adore, part of a series of roles of her that seem to be inspired by those played by the other Audrey – Hepburn – in American films. How is it that this formula, where the characters get better and better with little obstacles, and which seemed outdated even in the original films, works so well here? One of the secrets is, I think, the fact that the characters are believable and many of the situations described are part of real life experiences. Guillaume Canet and Françoise Bertin play their roles excellently, but next to the incomparable Tautou I would mention Laurent Stocker, an actor with a special comic talent in a delicious role. ‘Ensemble, c’est tout‘ is an elegant farewell film that Claude Berri left us at the end of his career.