Merci pour le geste
Synopsis
A homeless man haunts the Parisian pavements, remembering when he was once part of the world of others, the world of visible people. Since he's been living in the street he's come to believe that he's invisible, "a black hole in the city." In another time, he was co-director of a small thriving business. He loved Betty, a formidable woman 12 years his junior, with all his heart. They'd had a lovely little daughter, Francine. As he wanders, he continually thinks about the people and things of his past: Betty, Francine, love, tenderness… his wife, his daughter. He calls it "bleeding the past." 55-years-old and he's at the end of his rope, ready to call it quits any old day now… after all, who needs him... It's then that a bedraggled dog befriends him. New responsibility changes his life. The dog isn't allowed into night shelters or soup kitchens and they've got to rough it in the streets. The guy who had nothing left to loose, expected nothing more from anyone, is now afraid for "Mr D...
Credits
Director (1)
Actors (29)
Production and distribution (4)
- Executive Producer : Telema
- Co-productions : STUDIOCANAL, France 2 Cinéma
- Film exports/foreign sales : Tamasa Distribution
- French distribution : Mars Distribution
Full credits (18)
- Executive Producer : Charles Gassot
- Adaptation : Claude Faraldo
- Screenwriter : Claude Faraldo
- Director of Photography : Yves Lafaye
- Music Composer : Sergio Tomassi
- Assistant directors : Mathieu De Pasquale, Alexandra Denni
- Editor : Guy Lecorne
- Sound Recordist : Jean Umansky
- Costume designer : Nathalie Du Roscoat
- Line Producer : Jacques Hinstin
- Sound assistant : Sophie Chiabaut
- Production Manager : François Hamel
- Press Attaché (film) : Denise Breton
- Sound editors : Mourad Louanchi, Dominique Vieillard
- Assistant Editor : Anja Lüdcke
- Production Designers : Alain Vibet, Yann Sibiril, Gilles Laboulandine
- Casting : Annik Dufrene
- Sound Mixer : Dominique Vieillard
Media Gallery
Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Drama
- Themes : Wandering
- Production language : French
- Production country : France
News & awards
Selections (2)
About
I’d like to think that the movies are socially useful. I wanted to stir the emotions, a feeling which makes it harder to accept that some people are allowed to rot – the garbage-can people, detritus – while others shine. I don’t want to make the audience feel guilty, since responsibility for this situation is collective rather than individual. I wanted to speak straight to the heart. That’s why I was determined no one should be responsible for Michel’s misfortune in the film, there should be no personal nastiness, neither from his wife nor the cops. It’s society that should refuse to accept this process. I wanted the film to inspire love, to move audiences. Society can’t tolerate this enormous disparity – this loss of people’s esteem – with impunity.
Claude Faraldo, Director (excerpt from press kit)
