It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The 28-minute cutdown I looked at was a charming, if barebones film of Victor Cherbuliez novel. Jean Worms is a gruff bachelor, rusticating in the country, off women because the girl he was supposed to marry dumped him. He is not pleased when a cosmpolitan lady moves into the next estate and holds noisy parties, nor with her daughter, Geneviève Félix, who steals figs from his tree. His sister, however, takes the girl under her wing. When Miss Felix' mother decides to marry her to a decrepit nobleman,, it's up to Worms to find her a suitable substitute.Because of the extreme cutting of the movie, it's tough to judge, but it appears to have all the hallmarks of a respectful filmization of a classic novel -- Cherbuliez was a member of the French Academy -- and there is careful attention paid to the set decoration. The actors appear up to their tasks. Mr. Worms is suitably grouchy, Miss Felix ebullient and so forth. It undoubtedly must have pleased its French audiences in the waning days of the silent cinema.