Beau Pere Reviews

BEAU PERE is a tender and sad love story about a jazz pianist, Remy (Patrick Dewaere), whose life changes drastically when his live-in lover, Martine (Nicole Garcia), dies in a car accident, leaving him to care for her 14-year-old daughter, Marion (Ariel Besse). Without money or a future (his aspirations to fame have been overshadowed by his lack of talent), Remy feels an emptiness filled only by Marion's presence. On the precipice between adolescence and womanhood, Marion becomes attracted to 30-year-old Remy, eventually breaking down his resistance, not only to sleeping with a young girl but to detaching himself from the memory of Martine. Their dependence on each other changes, however, when Marion rediscovers her love for her natural father (Maurice Ronet) and Remy falls for another woman (Nathalie Baye). BEAU PERE is a touching story (though not without spots of director Bertrand Blier's wicked humor) of that moment in a person's life when they most need someone beside them. Remy is caught for a moment without a lover, while Marion is simultaneously caught without a parent's love. It is during this time of vulnerability that they have no choice but to fall in love. Besse, as the daughter, perfectly captures the innocence and sensuality that the role calls for, while Dewaere creates an entirely sympathetic character for whom one cannot help but feel pain. The cruel irony is that Dewaere, one of the most popular French actors of his time, committed suicide the following year. The videotape in dubbed in English, but be forewarned that the voices are atrocious, especially Marion's.