Hunting and Gathering is a sweet, small little film with a quirky set of characters, like a tamer, shallower version of Avenue Montaigne or The Station Agent, but still heartwarming. It showed at this year’s Cinefranco festival at the Royal Cinema and you can find it on DVD now across town, including at Bay Video. Hunting and Gathering stars Audrey Tautou (Amélie) as a depressed and underweight but talented artist who works as a cleaning woman and French heartthrob Guillaume Canet (Jeux d’Enfants), a gruff gourmet chef who spends his Mondays taking care of his sick grandmother, only to bring home different women each week afterward to help him drown his sorrows.
They meet through Franck’s (Guillaume Canet) friend and roommate, Philibert (Laurent Stocker), a smart, educated man whose stutter prevents him from doing what he wants with his life. Philibert and Camille (Audrey Tautou) live in the same apartment building – he, in a large and grandiose apartment owned by his deceased grandparents, and she, in a small, cold bedroom in the attic. They meet in the hallways one day, share a meal, and then meet once more, when the skin-and-bones Camille is very sick. Philibert takes her in, feeds her and cares for her, in a completely innocent and platonic way. Continue reading “Ensemble C’est Tout (Hunting and Gathering)”