Auntie Danielle (1990)

Great Film overall

As Good As It Gets

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Hollywood would do Joan Plowright as the sweet old Grandma, but this is a French film, so it's as mean-spirited as you'd like. There's no arched-eyebrows at your tyrannical repartee or smirks at your own posturing here - just a bona-fide cyanide witch who doesn't care a jot who knows it. After the death of her put-upon housekeeper, which may or may not have been an accident, the curmudgeon is taken in by her kindly, trendy Parisian relatives - a fertile ground for her spiteful venom where she reigns with aplomb. She will not entertain, "raw fish in lime juice, kiwi salads and cheese as starters," and instead satisfies herself with making her hosts' lives hell, whether its by abandoning a wee lad in the park or berating an ageing female relative on her lack of suitors.Chatilliez is abandoning traditional age clichés and puts the view instead that old girls like Tatie Danielle don't think twice about knocking whatever unfortunate over with some withering put-down, because to be honest about one's feeling is important. To smile, put up with other people's ludicrous requests and unreasonable behaviour for the sake of avoiding embarrassment and fitting in to polite society are perhaps the root of much discontent in society these days. For example well-meaning but dim wife of the family can only acknowledge her burden in furtive whispers to which he family can only meekly agree.Instead of confronting this cackling chip-pan of evil, they flee to Greece for a month, leaving Tatie with a no-nonsense young matron. Like most bullies who realise the cards aren't all stacked in their favour, Tatie comes to co-operate although it's only a matter of time before one last flare-up leads Tatie to wallow in her own filth and burn the apartment down. In most countries people would soon suss out Tatie for the Gorgon she is, but this being Paris she's treated as the hard done-by old lady.It's at this point the film really comes into its own as a nasty piece of work. Tatie remains a dangerous element, someone we laugh but heaven forfend you'd ever want to meet her in real life. The family, their kindness considered, are emotionally palsied and stilted in their middle-class ways. Like the best films, we appreciate the maliciousness, the sardonic jibes, the pretence - just as long as it all stays safely on the screen.

I have to say that I don't like this film. I love French films because I think they are more in depth, thought-provoking, and spend more time developing relationships between the characters. Unfortunately, Tatie Danielle is cruel and mean. She criticizes everybody but herself. She makes everybody else's life worse than hers by her actions. The way she treats people including the old woman who cared for her in the beginning of the film is exceptionally cruel when it causes her death. She moves in with unsuspecting relatives who have two young sons. One son is obviously homosexual but the parents either ignore it just turned a blind eye to it. Not Tatie Danielle! You can imagine what she has to say and do. Just look what she does to the family pet dog. Anyway, she finally meets her match in the caretaker assigned to her when the family takes a much-needed Greek vacation for a month. If only Americans could take month-long vacations, how I envy the French. Anyway, they get along until she has to leave her. Then Tatie Danielle gets famous for her poor treatment by getting national sympathy. When she's not in the old folks home after that incident, she is away with her caretaker somewhere. I don't know. I think Tatie's cruelty is just too much for me or anyone.

Tatie Danielle is one of the most gaspingly unpleasant films I've seen for a long time. It's 100% cynical, negative and meanspirited.Auntie Danielle is the most callous old bag I have ever clapped eyes on. Seizing on everything her long-suffering family does to help her, and turning it inside out, she is a great example of the constant victim. Never happier than when whinging, she's a spiteful bully, and is heartless in the extreme. When she finally meets her match, the film is turned completely upside-down, which is nice to see.I laughed lots, needless to say.Don't miss this film: it's unique.

This is the best movie have seen seen in a long time and it instantly became my all time favorite. i love it. I live for dark humor and this movie fed my imagination. i would recommend it to anyone who loves dark humor and is up for a good time.