Im Going Home (film)

Plot

Gilbert Valence (Michel Piccoli) is a grand old theatre actor who receives the shocking news that his wife, daughter, and son-in-law have been killed in a car accident. As time passes, Valence busies himself with his daily life in Paris, turning down unsuitable roles in low-brow television productions and looking after his 9-year-old grandson. When an American filmmaker (John Malkovich) miscasts him in an ill-conceived adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses, Valence finds himself compelled to make a decision about his life.

Cast

Reception

In the review website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has 96% with 52 reviews. It was one of the films in competition for the Palme d'Or in the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. It won the Critics Award for Best Film at the 2001 São Paulo International Film Festival and the Golden Anchor Award at the 2002 Haifa International Film Festival. It also won the Globo de Ouro for Best Film at the 2002 Globos de Ouro. Michel Piccoli was nominated for Best Actor at the 2001 European Film Awards.

"Always good to see Michel Piccoli - in Manoel de Oliveira's film he plays a grand old stage actor who has recently lost his family [-] few cameras stare so intently at things as de Oliveira's, and the long excerpts he films from Ionesco and The Tempest are frankly de trop, but this patient detailing of an actor's life has a fascination akin to watching a sun slowly disappear beneath the horizon."