Vera Raves: Le Week-end & Other Films Celebrate Love Over 60

Le Week-End
Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan in “Le Week-end” | Music Box Films

With our population bulging at the upper limits — more and more gray haired folks spotted at the local multiplex — it makes sense that Hollywood (and in this case, Hollywood on the Thames) finally recognize that life and love does not stop at 30-something.

The latest film to show a realistic picture of mature relationship is the British film, “Le Week-end” (check out the movie’s site on Facebook). A couple in their sixties (Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan) travel to Paris for the weekend to revisit the scene of their honeymoon 30 years before.

Boredom has crept into their marriage, turning her shrewish and him desperate.  At times, the sharp dialogue sounds like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, ” except that it is interspersed with moments of true affection and plenty of humor.

The couple are co-conspirators in life — used to playing supporting roles for each other in such capers as running away from a restaurant bill. Jeff Goldblum as a thoroughly obnoxious American writer serves as a catalyst for some painful truth telling.

Maybe younger viewers won’t get it, but the over-60 crowd will understand that just because your knees rebel at climbing the steps to Sacre Couer with the same speed as in your 30s, life is not over.

The question is, how to stay alive while you are still living.

And as they enjoy the couple’s struggles in “Le Week-end,” viewers are treated to scenes in Montemarte and along the Seine and in expensive Parisian hotels and restaurants. Ahh, Paree, ageless City of (ageless) Love.

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6 responses to “Vera Raves: Le Week-end & Other Films Celebrate Love Over 60”

  1. Vera Raves: Le Week-end & Other Films Celebrate Love Over 60 http://t.co/XJFbNOY1cg

  2. […] review is adapted from Reel Life With Jane, where I first wrote it as a rave for Hollywood–and Hollywood on the Thames for recognizing […]

  3. Vera Raves: Le Week-end & Other Films Celebrate Love Over 60 http://t.co/SCWo4YApFE
    #babyboomermovies

  4. Vera Raves: Le Week-end & Other Films Celebrate Love Over 60 http://t.co/jqW321xJm8
    #babyboomermovies

  5. […] about a British couple spending a weekend in Paris. See Vera Marie Badertscher’s review of the […]

  6. […] in an attempt to rekindle their relationship. Our reviewer Vera Marie Badertscher said this in her review: “Maybe younger viewers won’t get it, but the over-60 crowd will understand that just […]

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