A documentary. The director, Jean Eustache, talks with his grandmother, Odette Robert. She sits at a table wearing sunglasses and talks fast about her life. She must have been born in 1900 and was only 71 when this movie was made. She led a difficult life. Her mother died when she was seven, she had an abusive stepmother, she married a guy who turned out to be a swinger. She mentions men in her family who fought in World War One and later, World War Two. One was put in a concentration camp. There were tragedies in her family, deaths of children and old people. It sounded like she was related to some terrible people but a lot of that was due to unwise marriages.
I tried to picture my old hillbilly relatives doing this. The ones I knew are almost gone now, but as far as I know they led happier lives or at least got along with each other. I'm closer to the grandmother's age than the director's. If it were me, I wouldn't have had nearly as much to tell.
An hour and fifty-two minutes. Available on the Criterion Channel.
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