MR BLAKE AT YOUR SERVICE. Starring: Fanny Ardant, John Malkovich, Emilie Dequenne, Eugenie Anselin and Philippe Bas. Directed by Gilles Legardinier. Rated PG (Mild themes and course language). 110 min.
The film is based on the novel, Completely Burnt Out (Completement Crame), which was written by the movie director Legardinier, and published in 2014. This film is Legardinier’s directorial debut. Andrew Blake (Malkovich), a British businessman, decides to leave London to move to a French manor house on the Domaine de Beauvillier estate in France, to revive memories he has of his late French wife. He yearns to re-experience the world he once knew with her, and he grieves for her desperately.
His life is turned upside down by the behaviour of Nathalie (Ardant), who is now in charge of the house he once knew, and where he lived with his late wife. Nathalie and the staff at the manor house are aloof and unfriendly, and Blake misses what he once knew. He finds it difficult to understand and cope with the behaviour.
He planned simply to be someone staying as a paying guest in the house, but the staff believe he has applied for the head butler’s job. Everything is in place for a situational comedy to unfold, and viewers know there are some moments of high drama and good comedy on the way.
The manor is in the hands of an unlikely mix of people: Odile (Dequenne) is a very controlling maid, who happens also to be a wonderful cook; Phillipe (Bas) is a handyman who has been disappointed in love; Manon (Anselin) is a maid who is experiencing some unhappy love problems; the stately manor house is home to an imperious cat; and the new owner, Nathalie, has financial difficulties which make a new business-venture unlikely to succeed.
This film depicts chaos, reminiscent of comedy classics such as Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953) and Mon Oncle (1958). However, this chaos is different as it depicts personal difficulties of living life with contentment and fulfilment in an unusual world. Satirically, the film searches for hope and happiness in modern life.
The film provides solid entertainment. Malkovich is a well-known dramatic actor who has helped cinema-goers appreciate the quality of excellent films such as The Killing Fields (1984), and Dangerous Liaisons (1988). For him, this movie is a remarkable change of acting pace. In a quiet, unobtrusive way, he helps steer the film into a satisfying depiction of a group of needy people looking for solace, understanding, and hope in modern life. In subtle ways, the film also offers thoughts about the problems of a class-conscious society. This is a feel-good film that is particularly well-suited to stressful times.
Rialto
Released 18 July 2024