May Fools (1990)
Grief is delayed by personal squabbles and countrywide protests in this funny and familiar family drama
7.0
Movie
France, Italy
English, French
Comedy, Drama
1990
LOUIS MALLE
Bruno Carette, Dominique Blanc, Étienne Draber
107 min
TLDR
Milou is the original cottagecore king.
What it's about
France, May 1968. At the same time Milou’s mother dies, unrest and strikes sweep the country, disrupting funeral plans, and leading to an unusual family reunion.
The take
The death of the matriarch is, of course, sad, but the countryside wake of May Fools seems to be the opposite at first. Just before the heat of summer, the family reunion seems quaint, idyllic, and occasionally eccentric with Milou’s penchant for beekeeping and crayfish catching. The inevitable family squabble over the estate also gets humorous, and this all seems unimportant to the larger May 68 protests that threatened to escalate into civil war. But director Louis Malle finds the small personal changes of Milou’s family and presents them, not as more or less important, but genuine all the same, finding the humanity within each of these characters.
What stands out
May Fools feels like a memory, and while this memory was more cheerful than Au Revoir Les Enfants, Malle is able to infuse the same distinct and natural aura that makes each scene feel lived in.
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