Mr. Morgan`s Last Love

Since the death of his wife, Matthew Morgan (Michael Caine) has lost all desire to live. Laboriously he drags himself through the everyday life determined by grief and loneliness, which the former professor at Princeton University must now spend in Paris, which is completely foreign to him. He came to France out of love for his wife and has always relied on her for language and culture. Now Mr. Morgan is completely on his own in a country whose language he does not understand. And to change that now, he lacks the strength and the will. But a chance encounter with dance teacher Pauline (Clémence Poésy) brings the stubborn recluse back to life. The young woman's infectious optimism and zest for life restore some light to Mr. Morgan's darkness-clouded mind. During long walks, meals together or outings, Pauline manages to open the old man's heart to such an extent that he is even willing to get close to his completely estranged son Miles (Justin Kirk) again. However, this proves to be extremely complicated, especially since Miles is extremely skeptical of the friendship between his old father and the young woman. When he and his sister Karen (Gillian Anderson) try unsuccessfully to bring Mr. Morgan back to the U.S. to be cared for, Miles' life suddenly takes an unexpected turn as well.

With Mr. Morgan`s Last Love, German director Sandra Nettelbeck (Bella Martha) delivers a sensitive and heartwarming adaptation of the French novel The Last Love of Monsieur Armand. The fact that the main French character was made an American proves to be a very good decision based on the wonderful lead actor Michael Caine alone. With his performance Caine already provides several goosebump moments in the first minutes, which are intensified by Nettelbeck's sensitive staging. For example, there is a quite wonderful moment when Matthew is overwhelmed by memories of his wife while walking through the streets of Paris, which could well bring little tears to the eyes of sensitive viewers.

Even in the first hour, Mr. Morgan`s Last Love is a simply beautiful film. If at the beginning it almost seems like a slightly more crowd-pleasing version of Michael Haneke`s Love, it soon becomes a very tender, life-affirming story about friendship, community and family. Carried by convincing, charming actors and immersed in enchanting images of Paris, the novel adaptation is well on its way to becoming almost perfect emotional cinema. But unfortunately it doesn't succeed in the end. Especially with regard to the father-son-conflict, the production gets lost in the last third in too tough dialogues or dramaturgically superfluous moments, which drag the film unnecessarily. This is disturbing in that the ending is foreseeable much earlier and the road to it is traveled along unnecessarily complicated paths.

This leaves a small blemish on the otherwise positive overall picture of the drama. While the ending doesn't quite reach the emotional strength that the beginning suggests, it's still enough to give you powerful goosebumps. Sandra Nettelbeck knows very well how to mix real emotions with a little bit of lightening humor, which in the end results in a very positive, rousing look at the beauty of life, which leaves the viewer with a real feeling of happiness despite the many sad moments. Mr. Morgan`s Last Love may not be the big hit that it could have been. But it is a beautiful, well acted and moving piece of goosebump cinema. If you are not ashamed of your tears in the cinema and like it a bit more sensitive, close to the border of kitsch, you should not miss this work. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp