Cousin Jules

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04/13/2014 This movie is relentlessly simple. At first we were laughing at the lack of plot-depth, but as I subconsciously accepted its motivation and style it very slowly pulled me in like a glacier overtaking the landscape. Before long my mood was transformed and I found myself enjoying the movie like looking at a beautiful piece of art. There are parts of the movie where the action literally stops and the viewer is left to look at a fixed-frame of something that was barely moving anyway. Saying this is not a fast-paced movie is an understatement. Spoiler alert (but it doesn't really matter) The movie is about a geriatric blacksmith and his wife who live a very simple, slow life in rural France. The dialogue literally makes no difference and there's even a point where they stop showing subtitles. This movie gave me 3 very distinct reflections on my own life, the first of which is gratitude. The pace of the movie matches the pace of their lives. It gave me time to reflect on many things and in a way changed me. First of all they have almost no modern conveniences. I saw a single light bulb in their entire world and if they wanted anything, there was a manual process to get it. One of the characters spends 10 minutes making a pot of coffee. Get the bucket, use the well to get water, put wood in the stove, bring the water to a boil, etc. My first life-reflection was gratitude for all of the modern conveniences we have. There's something reassuring about the lack of aspirations these two have, both because of the lives they live and their age. Their days are filled with many small, simple but manual duties that almost assuredly fill them with a feeling of accomplishment every hour of their lives. The second reflection was to remember how much an honest days work almost certainly brings a sense of wholeness or well being in my life. The couple in the move are most certainly poor. They wear wooden shoes, they eat simple meals, they have no luxuries or modern conveniences. But they on thing they are not, is dirty. They clearly have self respect and even though their one room house looks like it is as old as they are, it's almost never untidy. The third reflection was simply that anyone can have self respect, which is probably a product of hard work and and not taking anything for granted. Go see this movie on a slow day when you are reflective, you'll have plenty of time to think. See more Read all reviews

Cousin Jules

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