Le fils de l’épicier (2007) [“The Grocer’s Son”]

Tuesday, November 17th at 2p.m.
Christie Theatre
University of Wisconsin – Green Bay

It is summer, and thirty-year-old Antoine is forced to leave the city to return to his family in Provence.  His father is sick, so he must assume the lifestyle he thought he had shed—driving the family grocery cart from hamlet to hamlet, delivering supplies to the few remaining inhabitants.  Accompanied by Claire, a friend from Paris whom he has a secret crush on, Antoine gradually warms up to his experience in the country and his encounters with the villagers, who initially seem stubborn and gruff, but ultimately prove to be funny and endearing.  Ultimately, this surprise French box-office hit is about the coming-of-age of a man re-discovering life and love in the countryside. (96 min.)

“GRACEFUL.  INFLECTED WITH IMMENSE EMOTION.”
–Michelle Orange, The Village Voice – Review

“CAPTIVATING…INTOXICATING.  THIS VALENTINE TO COUNTRY LIFE IS…THAT PROVERBIAL GEM THAT ART-HOUSE FANS SHOULD DISCOVER AND SAVOR.”
–Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International – Review

“THE GROCER’S SON IS AN UNALLOYED PLEASURE, START TO FINISH.”
–Jim Van Maanen, Green Cine – Review

A HEARTFELT TALE [WITH] SUBTLE MOMENTS OF INSIGHT RARELY CAPTURED IN MOVIES.”
–Prairie Miller, News Blaze – Review

SEDUCTIVE…IRRESISTIBLE…REMARKABLE THROUGHOUT.”
–Ronnie Scheib, Variety – Review

“Like taking a vacation to the French countryside and meeting people there of whom you grow extraordinarily fond, The Grocer’s Son is an unalloyed pleasure, start to finish.”
– Green Cine Daily

Sponsored by Le Cercle Français and the French Program of HUS unit, University of Wisconsin–Green Bay