My Afternoons with Margueritte

Germain, a middle-aged laborer in a French provincial town, has spent his life being told he is slow. He cannot read well, his mother treats him with contempt, and his days pass between the local bar, his caravan in her garden, and the park bench where he counts pigeons. There he meets Margueritte, an elderly, well-read woman who lives in a retirement home and also watches the birds. She begins reading aloud to him, and the books gradually change how he sees himself and the people around him.

Jean Becker directed and co-wrote the film with Jean-Loup Dabadie, adapting Marie-Sabine Roger's novel. It followed Love Me No More (2008) and One Deadly Summer (1983) in Becker's filmography. Gérard Depardieu plays Germain, with Gisèle Casadesus as Margueritte and Maurane, Jean-François Stévenin, Patrick Bouchitey and François-Xavier Demaison in supporting roles. Louis Becker produced.

Released in 2010 and running 82 minutes, the film took about 14 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.2 out of 10 from roughly 7,900 votes, and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from about 256 votes, indicating a warm audience response. The critics' rating of 6.4 out of 10 from 62 reviews is somewhat lower than the audience scores, though still positive.