People are voting emotionally.

Absolutely Fantastic

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

"The Grocer's Son" is a film that many folks will give up on, as it is slow and very deliberately paced. I know I was very tempted to turn off the movie and am glad I didn't. It is worth your time.When the film begins, Antoine's father has had a heart attack and is in the hospital. It soon becomes apparent that Antoine (Nicolas Cazalé) has only come to the hospital for his mother's sake...as long ago he left home and swore to stay away due to his relationship with his dad. Despite all this, he reluctantly agrees to leave the city and move back home, temporarily, to help his mother with the family business. I was surprised by this because although they own a small general store in the country, the business also has a small truck that travels about selling to the locals outside their homes. Antoine is terrible at his job. He is surly, bitter and a jerk. His lady friend Claire, is a very nice and sweet girl...but after a while Antoine's bitterness push her away. Is there any hope for Antoine or his really screwed up family?As I mentioned, this is a slow film...very, very slow. However, the story comes together very nicely and believably at the end...making the journey worth your time and trouble.

I have seen one review here that described this movie as a "dud" and another stating... "All French movies are either about sex or sons reconnecting with their fathers. This one is mostly about the latter." I cannot agree with either. I do not believe all French movies are about either 'sex or sons and their fathers' but I do believe a lot are family orientated.This is a film based around a hard-working small town family who stumble and struggle through the same ups and downs that most of us have at one point or another with family and children, regardless of age, sex, ethnicity. So please do not miss this movie if you believe it to be just another about fathers/sons and/or sex, as you would be missing out on something very different.I couldn't say it was a dud in any aspect. Yes, there are flaws, it's not polished perfect but then again, neither are people and life. Because of this I found myself feeling more invested as a parent/spouse/sibling.The lush scenery and quaint village became characters unto themselves with their lush beauty and vibrant colors. I've not watched a movie for some time where I could say a vehicle became such a huge part of the story. However, I believe it to be the central part of this movie, the proverbial beating heart willing all to see what it sees and proving that sometimes all is not lost and it doesn't take much at all to have things back up and running.Eric Guirado has done a tremendous job of balancing the story and characters. It felt more of an ensemble piece to me. I read he'd spent time watching actual villagers and successfully as in most cases I wasn't sure who was an extra and who was a paid actor. If you've lived in a small village/town you'll surely appreciate the diversity.The only negative I have is although I loved the Deleted scenes and Outtakes, I couldn't help but want a longer 'Making Of' after the movie finished.It is definitely a movie I recommend you see and if you do, I'm sure most will find it as enjoyable as I did.

Even from his earliest days, Antoine Sfouza has made it the goal of his life not to have anything to do with the family business. That's why, in his late teens, he left the town where he was born and raised and headed off to the big city in search of fame, fortune and a better life for himself. The problem is that now, at the ripe old age of thirty, Antoine finds himself an embittered ne'er-do-well loser, waiting tables in a sidewalk cafe and living in a dreary one-room flat in Paris, all but estranged from the family that raised him. But after his father is hospitalized with a heart attack, Antoine reluctantly returns to help his mother and brother run the grocery store, which, as a part of its service, operates a van that travels around the local countryside, selling goods in towns and villages too remote to have a fully stocked grocery store of their own. It becomes Antoine's job to drive and man the van, even though his gloomy demeanor and prickly personality don't make him exactly a prime candidate for such an assignment.Eric Guirado's "The Grocer's Son" might just as easily have been titled "The Grocer's Prodigal Son," since the movie is a fairly transparent update of that well-known story from the Bible. Yet, lucky for us, the screenplay by Guirado and Florence Vignon fleshes out the allegory with fully realized characters and the kind of family dynamics that can only be hinted at in a brief parable. In a carefully understated performance, Nicolas Cazale plays the brooding, almost completely unsmiling Antoine, who eventually comes to learn that a life spent cut off from the people around him is no life at all. The charming Clotilde Hesme co-stars as the free-spirited and independent 26-year-old college student who rooms and boards with the family and who becomes a major catalyst for change in the young man's life.This is a movie that sneaks up on you slowly and wins you over by degrees - until, in the last half hour or so, it becomes a lyrical, really quite beautiful tale of redemption and compassion, of accepting responsibility and finding one's place in the world. Add to the mix an array of sweet and winning performances by a tremendously gifted cast, a lilting musical score by Christophe Boutin (played mainly on guitar), and generous helpings of lovely French scenery rolling on by, and you have a truly touching and memorable film that will lift your spirits and, for a brief moment at least, make everything seem right with the world.

This film would serve as a sleep aid. If you want to run a grocery store see this film. Otherwise, don't waste your time (even for rental. This is one of the most boring films ever made. There is ZERO development of relationships. There is no explanation of why the lead left his home 10 years ago. The romance has no reason,background or development. The female lead has no more than a cameo role and we gather nothing about her personal life, including parents, point of origin. We have no understanding of the male lead. Whats he been doing for 10 years? What is his profession. His brother is a hairdresser (WOW) The feelings between father and son are never explained (I gather the father was and is, a SOB). I gather a lot of the people in the film were not real actors (and neither were the professionals!! If didn't feel the need to get out of the house, we agreed we would NEVER have watched on DVD. Please skip this French DUD!!