Reviewed by
Jane Freebury
If Irreplaceable, the original title of
this genial tale seems a bit over-stated, the title for English speaking
audiences, The Country Doctor, doesn't
do the film justice either. As people are discovering.
Jean-Pierre
(Francois Cluzet) is an exemplary physician. All things to all the people who
need his attention, including his elderly mother. A source of medical expertise
as well as solace and kinship, he's been the town doctor for around three
decades. Far, but not that far from the glittering attractions of Paris, to
which his wife and son returned long ago.
He has also managed to sidestep the digital revolution, still referring
to patient records on index cards kept in cumbersome filing cabinets.
Everyone
who is ill and frail needs him, and him alone. He has promised Monsieur Sorlin
(Guy Faucher), a 92-year-old who needs full-time care that he won’t send him to
hospital, and he has endless patience for everyone’s foibles and idiosyncrasies.
He’s a great guy.
Jean-Pierre
has come to realise that something is wrong with him. His specialist informs him
his problem with field of vision—he sees only half the food on his dinner plate—is
because of the presence of a brain tumour. Inoperable, of course.
Being the
kind of man he is, Jean-Pierre has every intention of soldiering on. Chemo? Non! Radiation? Non! His medical colleagues know they must act, and so they send
along a new colleague who will eventually replace him. In perhaps the gentlest
of ripostes to his former profession, writer-director Thomas Lilti demonstrates
that no one is irreplaceable.
The medical
authorities have the nous to appoint a mature woman who won't take non for an answer. Nathalie (Marianne
Denicourt) worked as a nurse for a decade before she became a doctor, but she
is a city girl with a bit to learn about the country. That you need to allow
people time to tell you what’s wrong. That you need to show a gaggle of geese you
pass in the barnyard who's boss, for example.
Patients
must have been flocking to the surgery of writer-director Dr Thomas Lilti when
he practised medicine. He has a light and empathetic touch here, and makes us
feel so present in the scenes as each of the doctors do their rounds.
When the
village community kicks up its heels it holds a line-dance where it’s stetsons,
fringed jackets and the whole bit. Really? How surprising. Reflecting on this,
I realised there hadn’t been at some point one of those big traditional lunches
on long trestle tables laden with the local food and wine.
Another surprise
was the happy ending, the cardinal sin of the dream factory in the 1950s, but
why not? It makes a change from the prolific alternative.
In films,
there are directors from other professions who have made their mark with distinctive
visions. James Cameron once a truck driver, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu once a
merchant sailor, and George Miller, of course, also once a doctor. This tender,
empathetic film shows that whether Lilti steps away from things medical or not,
he will be worth watching.
3.5 stars
Also published at Jane's blog
