By Jake Wilson
WHEN FALL IS COMING ★★★½
(M) 104 minutes
Among the many mysteries of the latest film by the prolific François Ozon (The Crime is Mine) is why it’s being released here as When Fall Is Coming, rather than When Autumn Falls as in Britain.
True, it could be argued that the Americanised title gives “fall” a double meaning. But this feels both vague and gratuitous, especially as the pun doesn’t work in French.
Helene Vincent and Josiane Balasko play friends with a past in When Fall Is Coming.Credit: Rialto Films
On the subject, the film is full of images of the French countryside in autumn, which given its premiere date means that it must have been shot in the second half of 2023. Ozon is a fast worker, but the timeline makes it highly unlikely that the script could have been inspired by reports coming out of Australia.
All the same, viewers from this part of the world will feel a special sense of foreboding at a close-up of the sauteed wild mushrooms accompanying a quiche which Michelle Giraud (Hélène Vincent) has prepared for a family lunch at her home in rural Burgundy.
Michelle doesn’t consume any of this side dish herself, nor does her angelic young grandson Lucas (Garlan Erlos). The only other guest is her stroppy daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier), Lucas’ mother, who soon after is rushed to hospital where her stomach is fortunately pumped in time.
Ludivine Sagnier and Helene Vincent play a warring daughter and mother in When Fall Is Coming.Credit: Rialto Films
The local police quickly conclude that the whole affair is an accident that could have happened to anyone. Valérie is less convinced, returning to Paris with Lucas ahead of schedule, following a quarrel where she blames her mother for what could be a careless mistake or something worse.
From what we know as viewers, there’s no strong reason to think Michelle is anything other than a victim of circumstance – at least until she tells a doctor that she isn’t sure what happened during the lead-up to the lunch, and that she fears she might be losing her mind.
A few years past retirement age, she does seem a little frail both mentally and physically, especially compared with her robust, chain-smoking friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko), whose son Vincent (Pierre Lottin) is released from prison around the same time all this is taking place.
Michelle and Marie-Claude go way back, but the nature of their shared past isn’t disclosed right away, and we’re left guessing, too, about the crime that Vincent was jailed for.
Indeed, if there’s a major objection to this ingeniously macabre film, it’s that Ozon is a little too high-handed about concealing and revealing information as he chooses, without the excuse of telling the story through any one character’s eyes.
An ambiguous hint of the supernatural also feels like one too many elements in the stew, and the very last image should probably have been cut, since we’re given everything we need to imagine it for ourselves.
Still, the storytelling is never unclear unless it’s meant to be, the actors have the trick of inspiring sympathy but not total trust, and if you have a taste for cosy unease, Ozon knows the recipe better than most.
When Fall is Coming is in cinemas from today.
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