Don't listen to the negative reviews

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

So much of this film is wonderful. The acting, dialog and writing are very good and I liked the movie very much. However, when the movie ended, it seemed to be missing a few things--and felt a tiny bit incomplete.The film begins during WWII in German occupied France. A Jewish family has been moving about the country and keeping a low profile in order to avoid problems with the fascist government. However, the little boy (who looks about five) has a tendency to get noticed and the parents are worried that his antics will endanger them all. So, they make the heartbreaking decision to have him live with a Catholic family and have him pose as a Christian. The only problem with this plan is that the elderly couple, though very good in most ways and very willing to care for the child, have no idea the kid is a Jew--and the old man hates Jews! This was not all that rare a thing at that time, but it was interesting that the couple had no idea the kid was Jewish--yet they came to love him as their own. In particular, the very anti-Semitic old man really came to love the kid--an oddly ironic situation. It's funny, but on one hand the old man is like Archie Bunker from "All in the Family"--full of hateful prejudices and very set in his ways. Yet, strangely, it was hard to hate the guy--he was often quite sweet and a real character--played wonderfully by veteran Swiss actor Michel Simon (who was at his absolute best here). Plus they did, inadvertently, save the kid's life.What bothered me is that there was never any revelation or resolution in the film. At one moment, the kid was living with the couple and listening to the anti-Semitic rants of the old man (and by this point, the kid also began to hate Jews). The next, the war was over and the kid is instantly shown leaving with his parents. Did the man ever learn that this kid he loved was a Jew? Did his sick views ever moderate or change? How difficult was it for the child to leave or the couple to let him go? Did the kid have any problems reconciling his love for the man yet dealing with the ugliness of his prejudices? All this is left unanswered, as the film literally looks like a chunk of it was missing at the end. Because of this, the film loses a couple points and left me feeling frustrated--I had really loved it up until then. But with no resolution, this can't be a perfect film.By the way, this film was the first full-length film by Claude Berri. It's on a DVD from Criterion that also includes Berri's first short, the Oscar-winning "The Chicken". A very, very good package.

Claude Berri has been gracing French cinema as Producer, Writer, Actor and Director for several years and it's a given that at least two or three of his movies are on every discerning viewer's 'Best' list and I don't necessarily mean the obvious, i.e. Jean de Florette and its other half Manon but things like Lucie Aubrac which is also set in Occupied France as is this gem. The idea of teaming a Senior Citizen with a child is far from new and far from played out, witness Papillon less than a decade ago, but it is, by definition, tricky and the trick is in finding a suitable child. Berri struck oil with Alain Cohen and all he had to do was pair him with Michel Simon and the movie practically made itself. That, of course, is the impression an audience gets when a master filmmaker like Berri is on bullhorn. I can add little to the praise, merely second it. A great movie.

I caught this at the local art museum, what a treasure it is! I became interested because the director is Claude Berri, and his "Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources" story is one of my favourites of all time. Although this movie is in black and white, it's a superior quality and beautiful to watch. The story, of a little Jewish boy hiding out in the country with an anti-semitic old man in occupied France, could easily have gone down the path of sadness and tears, but instead it is a joyous movie full of laughter and love. I must say Michel Simon is a delightful actor, and makes even a narrow-minded, ignorant, brainwashed old man like Pépé a kind, fun grandpa that any child would love to have. I believe this movie is based on Claude Berri's actual experience, but I did have to wonder at the end if Pépé was ever told the truth about the child's heritage and if so, did it matter? Anyway, this is a fantastic heartwarming movie that you shouldn't miss if you ever get the chance to see it.

I remember seeing this movie when I as a teenager (say, about 1970) and I was then very moved by this warm and tender drama. Nearly 30 years later, I just saw it on TV and I didn't change my mind : this is a very good movie, in the way French can say a lot of things in this kind of day-to-day film. The chemistry between young Cohen and veteran Simon is beautiful. It's also filled with references to the way people in France lived the Second world war, like Simon hating Jews and didn't know that is young friend Berry is a Jew. I love Michel Simon. He had been such a great actor from the second half of the 1920's to his death, in the middle 1970's. He was always good in his films, so natural that we don't think he's acting. Le vieil homme et l'enfant is a very intelligent movie for young director Berri, who will be famous as a director and producer in the next years.