A sixty-something , who is still working as a sandwich man , saves a little girl about to jump into the Seine ;he takes her to his seedy home ,where he lives with his faithful dog ,his only friend. The grumpy man and the girlie become good friends although he does not know what to do with her : who is she?why does she run away?
Georges Chamarat ,de la comédie française had a brilliant stage career : he would play Molière,Pirandello and other prestigious playwrights ; on the silver screen,he had to make do with supporting parts ; "au coeur de la vie" is perhaps the only one in which he plays the principal .
The best of this endearing story is to be found in the scenes with the mature man and his protégée : the meals where the dog eats like a guest at the table , the tales of the Incas and the genius in the candelabra whick keep the child spellbound .
The sequences involving the hostile outside world are less satisfying , forcing the actors to overplay (Jacques Marin , Jeanne Fusier-Gir) .
But it shows the solitude of a man who used to work as a carpenter ; but the lack of a decent pension led him to do odd jobs in a publicity agency ;after being fired,when he's searching for a new job, one notices that French Civil Service was as hard on the poor as it sometimes still is today .
The first sequence is particularly successful,coming from an unknown director :a series of characters in close shots , reflections in the dark waters of the river Seine , the city (check the title : "heart of the city") is not a nice place to be in the middle of the night ,except for a pair of lovers ....
The ending is at once happy and desperate ....
