Although the movie is exported with a title naming "Mr. Stein," I don't recall from the movie itself that his name is anything other than simply "Pierre" and he says that in his younger days he was sometimes called "Pierrot," a name straight out of the commedia del'arte. The raw materials of French farce, including a silly old man hanging on to a mismatch with a lovely young woman, are put to use here in a touching way rather than an uproarious way.
For us as an audience (okay, for me as an audience), this is very much old Pierre Richard's movie, and he carries it off superbly. Unfortunately, it wasn't written that way. The script gives as much weight, if not more, to his granddaughter's friend, an ineffectual fellow played by Yaniss Lespert. And while it's possible to look ineffectual and funny (and Pierre Richard could give a master class on that), Yaniss Lespert simply looks ineffectual. He's in an interesting situation, but he doesn't come across as an interesting person.
Still, the wheels of the plot turn smoothly, sometimes a little intricately. In one or two places, it's important to keep your eye on the screen because not everything is proclaimed in the dialogue. Strangely, for a movie written and directed by women, the female characters are a little undermotivated; but the atmosphere of the movie does embrace them and it's an atmosphere of mild loneliness and hope.
