Mr Morgan’s Last Love *** (2013, Michael Caine, Clémence Poésy, Justin Kirk, Gillian Anderson) – Movie Review

Michael Caine gives a memorable, distinguished performance as a retired, widowed American philosophy professor living in Paris whose chance encounter on a bus with a young Parisian woman (Clémence Poésy) turns out to be a life-changing connection.

Writer-director Sandra Nettelbeck’s film is desperately uneven, with very good dialogue, characters and scenes mixing with hollow and unconvincing ones.

Nevertheless, her film is welcome, rich and enjoyable overall, and it’s particularly worthwhile for Caine’s lovely. touching performance. Caine may not be very American – he just can’t get that cockney thing out of his speech – but he is very good. It’s great to see Caine in a leading role again. Clémence Poésy is sweet in a rather thankless, none too-persuasively written part.

Justin Kirk has a huge role as Mr Morgan’s estranged son Miles, but alas he’s isn’t always terribly good, though that might be the unbelievable writing of the character and his motivations and actions. Jane Alexander plays Mr Morgan’s dead wife, appearing with him regularly in an imagined present reality. It’s always a clumsy device, and it doesn’t work terribly well here, but it’s OK. Gillian Anderson has a showy cameo as Mr Morgan’s bitchy daughter Karen. It doesn’t feel very truthful but it does liven things up.

Nettelbeck based her rickety screenplay on a novel by Françoise Dorner.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1360

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