Mr Blake at Your Service (Complètement cramé!)(PG) |Close-Up Film Review
Dir: Gilles Legarinier, France/Luxembourg, 2023, 100 mins, French with subtitles
Cast: John Malkovitch, Fanny Ardant, Émilie Dequenne
Review by Carol Allen
He plays English businessman Andrew Blake, mourning the death of his French wife. He decides to leave his life in London behind and return to the French chateau where they first met forty years earlier. He believes it’s now a hotel – it’s not clear what it was when he and his wife were courting. The reality is, it is owned by widow Nathalie Beauvillier (Ardant), who is slowly going broke due to the upkeep of the chateau. Blake is mistaken by her loyal and bossy housekeeper Odile (Dequeene) as an applicant for the post of butler – she is indeed hoping to persuade her mistress to turn the place into a guest house – and Blake decides to go along with that, even though he’s never buttled in his life and accept her offer of the post for a trial period.
While not actually that good a butler, Blake turns out to be a force for regeneration. He becomes friends with Odile ,her bushy cat Mephisto and the estate’s eccentric handyman Philippe (Philippe Bas), who builds little cottages with windows for hibernating hedgehogs. He also helps the pregnant young maid of all work Manon (Eugénie Anselin) sort out her love life and eventually even connects with Mme Beauvillier herself. Past sadnesses are revealed, new alliances formed.
It’s all a bit eccentric, particularly Malkovitch’s performance but very amiable and pleasant, particularly if you’re a Francophile.
