Tatie Danielle [Auntie Danielle] ***** (1990, Tsilla Chelton, Catherine Jacob, Isabelle Nanty) – Classic Movie Review 8722

Director Etienne Chatiliez’s 1990 French gem Tatie Danielle [Auntie Danielle] stars Tsilla Chelton, who is magnificently awful as the rich old, recently widowed grandma, whose only pleasure in life is tormenting her relatives and anyone who tries to care for her.

After she manages to bump off her housekeeper, who dies falling off a ladder, Tatie Danielle moves in with her great-nephew, his wife and kid, and transfers her abusive attentions to them and their housekeeper. But she meets her nemesis when the family hire a young woman carer and companion who is even nastier than she is.

Chatiliez’s hugely entertaining black comedy is particularly funny and incisive, and well sustained by writer Florence Quentin, who takes swipes at the pretensions of the Parisian lower middle class, while director Chatiliez, making his second feature, keeps his film dynamic and encourages expert ensemble playing from the whole cast.

Catherine Jacob is a special delight as the family’s mother, but the show belongs to the 71-year-old Chelton and her tremendous, once-in-a-lifetime tour de force as the ultimate cantankerous, mean-spirited and selfish old widow.

Also in the cast are Isabelle Nanty, Neige Dolsky, Eric Prat, Laurence Février, Virginie Pradal, Mathieu Foulon, Gary Ledoux, André Wilms, Patrick Bouchitey, Karin Viard and Christine Pignet.

Tatie Danielle [Auntie Danielle] Etienne Chatiliez, runs 110 minutes, is made by Téléma, Les Productions du Champ Poirier and FR3 Films Production, is released by AMLF (1990) (France) and Prestige (1991) (US), is written by Florence Quentin (scenario, dialogue and adaptation) and Étienne Chatiliez (adaptation), is shot in Eastmancolor by Philippe Welt, is produced by Charles Gassot, is scored by Gérard Kawczynski and Gabriel Yared, and designed by Geoffroy Larcher.

Chatiliez is working with many of the cast and crew of his first movie, Life Is a Long Quiet River [La Vie Est Un Long Fleuve Tranquille] (1988): producer Charles Gassot, co-writer Florence Quentin, and actors Catherine Jacob, Patrick Bouchitey, André Wilms and Christine Pignet.

Tsilla Chelton (1919–2012).

Tsilla Chelton, who made her first film in 1962 and finally moved into the limelight in her 70s, died on 15 July 2012 aged 93.

Other memorable indomitable old lady movies include Katie Johnson in The Ladykillers (1955) and Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude (1972).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8722

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