When Fall Is Coming directed by François Ozon
The French director François Ozon is a prolific filmmaker, who since his feature debut film Sitcom from 1988 has delivered one new film after another, almost one every year. And you can never be sure what topic or in which genre he will deal with in his next film. The ones I have liked most so far have been Frantz from 2016, Everything Went Fine from 2021 and Swimming Pool from 2003. Now I add another one to this shortlist: When Fall Is Coming from 2023.
When Fall Is Coming starts with a church service in a small Burgundy countryside village, where the protagonist retiree Michelle is playing her part as a participant in a gentle country life. We hear the priest reading the gospel story about Jesus lifting up the village prostitute, who was looked down on by the whole village, and commending her for her love. Then we see Michelle leaving the church, meeting her local friend Marie-Claude and expecting her grandson to arrive who will spend a holiday week with her. It is the opening of a story about aging, parenting responsibility and guilt, a complicated past and reconciliation.
The fall is coming to this Burgundy village with crispness in the air and rustling leaves – a bit sad yet colorful and beautiful. In a similar way, fall has come in the lives of Michelle and Marie-Claude. They have entered into this phase of life with expectations and also with concerns, as we all do. They have to cope with mistakes and hurts from the past, but still have life to live, and they have loved ones to care and live for. Autumn is the right time to reestablish the values we want to live for and to accept and to choose to love. This elegant story with all its twists and turns shows life as a puzzle with which we carefully engage.
Rinus Baljeu, November 2025
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