Quand J’Etais Chanteur (The Singer)

Gerard Depardieu stars in this tale of an egocetric but strangely sympathetic ageing dance hall singer, crooning out the love songs for divorcees and the newly lovestruck who have shyed away from the nightclubs and more obvious cattlemarkets. Loved by ladies of a certain age, he is not quite reconciled to the fact that he is now of a certain age too, being caught lovestruck of a young estate agent with her own issues to bring to the table. Add to the mix that his manager is also his ex-wife with whom he has a very amicable relationship – to the point of her colouring his hair for him in the back room of the café her new partner runs – and our hero is heading for a pampered rude awakening.

Depardieu is in his element as the charming man mountain, easily hurt but less aware of how his own actions could impact upon others. Cécile De France is the younger mixed up lady whose very prickliness makes her a character we want to know more about and seems familiar in the modern dating world. It’s lovely to hear Mr D croon out his french love songs and to see, as his voice suffers at points, how his singing reflects so openly his passions – getting stronger when he is in love and going when he becomes heartbroken.

This is a beautiful film outlining the generation gap’s differing rules of dating and how romance manifests in the most unusual of ways. Quite lovely.

Released 28th September 2007 by Europa Corp.

Written by Victoria Nangle.