Review of The Well Digger's Daughter (2011) by Bonnie M — 31 Jul 2012

I was so surprised to have such a different experience than the professional critics, even the ones I usually respect. I found The Well Digger's Daughter boring, predictable and overly sappy. I kept waiting for the moment when I would feel something other than disbelief. I speak French fluently and love French films usually and wondered halfway through if this was a sort of parody. This is a classic example of a film that "tells" instead of showing. Rather than give us interesting scenes and actions, we're told everything. I was particularly floored in the scene where Andre's parents come to make amends. It was all dialogue without any sense of action or tension. I'm not one for made up conflict, but this felt very dry and inauthentic. I was particularly disappointed in the acting by "Patricia" who must have been told to just look at the camera and be pretty. Where was the fire? Where was the real Patricia? Sure, she's kind...but show me her fire, too.

Daniel Auteil is in too many scenes, the doe-eyed daughter Patricia does little else than look at the camera and other actors petulantly or with too much submission and the rest of the daughters say hardly anything at all. The romance between Patricia and Andre has little passion and the film is devoid of tension or conflict. Everything goes according to plan after a few hitches here and there.

The only moment of interest is when Andre's mother disobeys her son earlier in the film. There we see some spunk. But it's never brought to its potential. I left feeling disappointed in Auteil's directorial debut and in the critics who see this as a great old fashioned film. To me it felt old fashioned simply in its orchestration.