Tea with Madame Clos

This is an incredibly gentle movie. It follows the life of Madame Clos, a 97 year old lady living in the south of France. It shows the simplicity of Madame Clos's life - her walking to the lower village, her making soup, her housekeeper who she has had for 40 years and her at the kitchen window which looked out over a square handing out Vichy mints to the children. There is a point early on where she says she has had a good life and you expect some revelation. There is none. Hate to spoil that much for you. We do get to hear some anecdotes and see some family photos but there is no probing or delving. There is an honesty about it but at the same time a voyeuristic quality about it which I found a bit disturbing. The filmmaker Jane Oehr spoke after the movie. She has a villa in the region which she spends three months of the year. She worked in the BBC documentary section years ago. She could have extracted more but, I supppose, should she? What she did capture was the rustic unostentatious life of this woman. On a personal level I enjoyed the glimpse into this womans life but still not sure whether I completely agree with it. For a movie about not much it did leave me asking questions so credit where credit is due. Strangely alluring.