I'm Going Home

2001

1h 30m

Comedy

Drama

List

96%

55 Reviews

Tomatometer

68%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Elderly actor Gilbert Valence (Michel Piccoli) steps offstage after a performance and is told that his wife, his daughter and his son-in-law have all been killed in a horrific auto accident. Time passes, and Gilbert, now the guardian of his orphaned grandson, struggles to hold on to the small meaningful routines of his life. After taking a role in a film directed by American John Crawford (John Malkovich), he considers how to manage the end of his career.

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Critics Consensus

I'm Going Home is a masterfully subtle and poignant exploration of mortality.

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andrey k

There's some eternal wisdom perceptible in this movie, wisdom of a man who has lived long enough to possess something to share it with the world, but I'm sure you have to watch this movie multiple times to fully comprehend this wisdom to benefit profoundly from it. It is a very thoughtful cinema.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Heart-wrenchingly slow... I did not find it enjoyable to watch.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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Audience Member

This movie might be slow (for some people), but the fact is this movie brings the whole lot more meaning of life after somebody we loved the most gone. This is story about Gilbert Valence. Portrayed by le plus magnifique et lÃ (C)gendaire Michel Piccoli, is an aging but highly respected actor who has just lost his wife, daughter and her husband in a road accident. What's left for him is just his only grandson, who is the only reason he get through his days as he tries to live without his loved ones.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

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Audience Member

I'm Going Home spends the far majority of its run time tracking its central character--an aging theater actor--out and about or at work on the stage. Gifted and energetic, the man lives by routine--watching his grandson leave for school, enjoying a cup of coffee in his favorite cafe, or delivering memorized lines night after night for his current production. However, when the routine is threatened, Oliveira delivers a poignant finale about the limitations (self-imposed and otherwise) of aging.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

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Audience Member

Nothing to say about it, really. It's Oliveira.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A very, very wonderful film that's extremely touching and engaging. Manoel de Oliveria (who is now 102 years of age and just released his latest film at Cannes) breaks so many storytelling rules it's not even funny and that's what made this movie so damn good. This tells the story of older actor Gilbert Valence, a thespian who has devoted his life to theater and Shakespeare. After one of his latest performances, he is informed by his agent that his wife, daughter, and son-in-law have been killed in a car accident. Instead of following the character to hear what has happened and to see his reaction, we stay on his fellow actors who discuss to happenings. Then, the character rushes back into the room and exits. Cut to some time later where he's living his life with his grandson Serge who he barely sees and his nanny/housekeeper. Gilbert has started a new play. This is where I feel Gilbert's emotions about what happened truly show through. He puts it all into the characters he plays. In this film, it's as if the inciting event doesn't incite shit. Awful things happen and life goes on. However, towards the end, Gilbert starts to crack. It's very beautiful, moving, and poignant. Michel Piccoli puts in a hell of a performance that's muted and perfect for the part. Search this out, friends. You won't regret it.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Manoel de Oliveira

Director

Michel Piccoli

Gilbert Valence

Antoine Chappey

George

Catherine Deneuve

Marguerite

John Malkovich

John Crawford

Leonor Baldaque

Sylvia

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

Oliveira, a nonagenarian when he made the film, conveys the hidden rapture of daily life-and the power of images to preserve it.

May 26, 2020

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Empire Magazine

Rated: 4/5

Dec 30, 2006

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Steven D. Greydanus

Decent Films

A rarity, a film about old age that is neither a celebration or lament of of lost youth, nor an anticipation of impending death, but simply an unsentimental meditation on the ambiguous present, on aimlessness, isolation, and infirmity.

Rated: A-

Sep 25, 2003

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Steve Erickson

Nashville Scene

[Michel] Piccoli's performance is the film's beating heart.

Mar 4, 2019

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

An understated film that touches on greatness.

Rated: A

Aug 28, 2012

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Film Threat

Rated: 3/5

Dec 6, 2005

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Synopsis

Elderly actor Gilbert Valence (Michel Piccoli) steps offstage after a performance and is told that his wife, his daughter and his son-in-law have all been killed in a horrific auto accident. Time passes, and Gilbert, now the guardian of his orphaned grandson, struggles to hold on to the small meaningful routines of his life. After taking a role in a film directed by American John Crawford (John Malkovich), he considers how to manage the end of his career.

Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Screenwriter: Manoel de Oliveira
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: French (Canada)
Release Date (DVD): Aug 19, 2003
Runtime: 1h 30m
Sound Mix: Surround