Mr Morgan’s Last Love (2013)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 116 minutes
Directed by: Sandra Nettelback
Starring: Michael Caine, Clémence Poésy, Justin Kirk, Jane Alexander, Gillian Anderson, Richard Hope, Anne Alvaro
KRS Releasing Ltd

Mr Morgan’s Last Love is a melodrama that elevates itself from the crowd due to its cast. The combination of Michael Caine and Clémence Poésy is an interesting one both on paper and on screen.

The film, directed by German director Sandra Nettelback, is here adapting La Douceur Assassine by French novelist Françoise Dorner. But with the involvement of Caine in the production, the central male character has changed from French to a retired American living in Paris.

Caine is Matthew Morgan, an expatriate American who is a teacher of philosophy and has moved to live the rest of his years in the city of love. However, he did not do this alone as he was married but his wife (Jane Alexander) has since died. Three years on, he still sees her at times and misses her terribly. He has become gloomy and unfocused as he sludges his way through life with little or no motivation at all.

That is until he meets Pauline (Poésy) by accident and then meets her again after a few days. For him, her hair is like that of his wife, while for her, his beard also brings her memories.

Matthew, and in her own way Pauline, will also have to cope with Matthew’s adult children (Justin Kirk and Gillian Anderson) who come over from America and bring their own set of emotional baggage. Up in question, obviously enough, is the issue of their mother’s inheritance and also the fact that Matthew was, at times, not exactly the ideal father.

Michael Caine seems to be on a decided turn to go out with a bang

Pauline is a dance instructor and soon he attends her courses and a relationship starts to develop between the two.

However, it is a relationship unlike all the usual on-screen relationships we are accustomed to. It has cute elements to it but it is a more serious affair and never seems to define what exactly is the expected outcome of the two’s affair.

Caine brings to the movie a veneer of quality and class, while Poésy brings real effort, sympathetic presence and also a tangible feel of emotions to the picture. And the two click well.

Now 80 years old, Caine seems to be decided to go out with a bang and he is doing this by not avoiding the fact that he is old but rather by delivering characterisations that emphasise it.

His is a performance of a man in isolation which here is also metaphorically played upon by the fact that he is playing an American in Paris.

Meanwhile, Anderson is energetic and brings positive vibes to the film which is directed in a stylish manner without descending into the whimsical.

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