In L’Eustaque, a harbour district to the North of Marseilles, life goes its Mediterranean way. The men spend their time philosophising, the women exchange the available secrets and gossip. Not much of any consequence happens, but people are never lost for a few words. Jeanette is a working mother, as pugnacious as she is amiable, who has managed to bring up two children, a teenage daughter and a half-Arab son, on the meagre wages she earns on a supermarket check-out. When Jeanette meets the huge and friendly giant Marius, who guards a deserted cement factory, and she also loses her job because she bad-mouthed her boss, her life is turned upside down.Guédigian, who had previously made a name for himself with the slightly similar A la vie, à la mort, then sketches in an engaging way how Jeanette and Marius rediscover their ability to love and be happy. Their unlikely bond seems to run smoothly at first, but when Marius suddenly decides to withdraw to the solitude of the factory again, Jeanette’s neighbours have to get involved to ensure a happy ending. Marius et Jeanette is sustained by the lively dialogue and the charming complete characters, reminiscent of Renoir, both in the main and supporting roles.
