In the Courtyard

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Alain E @AlainE Nov 30, 2025 I have no idea how people find comedy in this movie, unless your idea of fun is to laugh at others misfortune. I don’t see much to recommend this movie either. Deneuve’s character appears to be in the early stages of dementia, seeing ominous signs in cracks of the wall of an old building. The male protagonist is depressed, separated from his loved ones and choosing to self medicate with illegal drugs and succumbing to an overdose. There are other characters similarly ill adjusted to reality. I don’t know if the director’s opinion is that the French society is hopeless, but this could very well be the impression of the viewer. See more marc g @RT96920741 Jan 10, 2021 Le sujet de ce film est la dépression, traitée dans ce film avec beaucoup de tact, de simplicité et aussi d'humour. Catherine Deneuve est superbe et ne donne jamais l'impression qu'elle joue, elle EST Mathilde. See more Nov 16, 2020 Ceaselessly sad but holds touching performances from Deneuve and Kervern See more Aug 23, 2016 The movie's topic is depression. The mood of the movie catches really good the emptyness that everyone who has suffered from depression can relate to. It is shown in the good acting of the protagonist, Antoine, who expresses as little emotions as possible. Also the music does good to that mood, mainly because there is hardly no music at all. And if there is music it is underlining the emptyness or pain of the situation really good (An emotional piano or a distorted synthesizer). Funny passages are mixed with numb and depressed scenes which gives the movie a kind of funny absurdity. All in all the movie made me feel good. That is because Antoine is someone I can sympathize with and he tries to become positive and help people. I think the movie is also about understanding and listening to each other instead of silencing our problems and becoming lonely. It is uplifting and realistic at the same time. See more May 15, 2015 In short: Very commendable showcasing of a micro-cosmos living around a Parisian courtyard, with some peculiar but endearing inhabitants I saw this film at the Berlinale film festival 2014. It was the international premiere in a venue with more than 1,500 booked seats, in presence of film makers and main actors. There was no Q&A afterwards. I'm not sure why I liked this one much more than "A Long Way Down" (Chaumeil, 2014) that I saw earlier in the same week, in spite of many traits they have in common. Both films are mere entertainment, casting well known actors which will attract many viewers regardless of its contents, neither has an express intention to carry a message or a morale, both will trigger several laughs, and have more than sufficient unexpected turns of events. I assume that the courtyard film had a definite advantage in its diversity and strangeness of the main characters living in the large house, in fact in a micro cosmos, yet not too far fetched and not too artificial, all that working to keep us interested throughout its running time. It has no useful purpose to summarize the plot here. The story line is very easy to follow, the characters are properly introduced and one gets ample chance to get to know them better. See more Apr 17, 2015 Moving story about two depressed people who become friends. You laugh and cry in this dramedy and it's nice to follow their battles on screen. Both leading actors are superb, specially Deneuve, besides great supporting roles. The problem with the script is the lack of attention to Antoine, whom we have no idea about how his past was and why he became a sad, drug addict man. This hurts the film a little bit. Also the fact that we see repeated scenes of him make the story quite boring in sometimes. We don't have any particular message here, nothing incredible, but performances compensate that. Watch it for Deneuve if you will. See more Read all reviews

In the Courtyard

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