When Fall is Coming, on OVID.tv

After butter, garlic, and mirepoix, French cuisine really ought to have some champignons. Michelle Giraud certainly agrees. Unfortunately, her overemotional grown daughter, Valerie Tessier (but soon to be Giraud again) takes it poorly when her mother serves her some bad mushrooms. Having long nursed resentments against her Giraud, Tessier uses the incident as a pretext to forbid her contact with her treasured grandson. However, that spitefulness produces unintended tragedy in Francois Ozon’s When Fall is Coming, which premieres today on OVID.tv.

Neither Giraud nor young Lucas Tesssier ate the mushrooms, so they were fine, while his mom needed a good stomach-pumping and a round of anti-biotics. Branding Giraud irresponsible, she bars her contact with Lucas. Giraud’s old crony Marie-Claude Perrin was the real mushroom forager, so she blames herself for not checking Giraud’s basket.

Perrin has plenty to deal with as well. The two elderly women share a scandalous past their provincial town will never let them forget. Tessier responded by hating her mother, whereas Perrin’s son Vincent lashed out at their detractors. That did not work out well for him, but he has finally been released after serving several years in prison. Now that he is out, Giraud generously hires him to help with landscaping and related manly chores. In fact, she seems to get on better with him than his skeptical mother, who fears backsliding. Maybe she isn’t wrong, because Perrin will be responsible for the film’s shocking turning-point.

When Fall is Coming is a perfect example of the thriller-that-really-isn’t-a-thriller that has become one of Ozon’s many specialties. It is both sophisticated and slightly cynical, displaying the quiet refinement that distinguishes his best films. Yet, its bloodless politeness can also be frustrating.

Regardless, Helene Vincent is quite heartbreaking as Giraud, but not in a simplistic Walton family kind of way. She is definitely a complicated grandma. Yet, Josiane Balasko might be even more complex and conflicted as Mother Perrin. Most likely, Pierre Lottin’s Vincent Perrin could very well be the most humanized and sympathetic thuggish figure you will find in recent French cinema. However, Ludivine Sagnier hits the same dreary note, without variation, as Tessier, the basket-case daughter.

Composers Evgueni and Sacha Galperine’s score is elegant, but unobtrusive—truly in a way that sounds very French. This is a quality production in just about every way, but it is arguably a little too reserved for its own good. Recommended for the central performances, When Fall is Coming premieres today (1/9) on OVID.tv.