My Afternoons with Margueritte

MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITTE is the story of life’s random encounters. In a small French town Germain (Gérard Depardieu, Cyrano de Bergerac), a nearly illiterate man in his 50s who is considered the village idiot, takes a walk to the park and happens to sit beside Margueritte (Gisèle Casadesus, The Hedgehog), a little old lady who is reading excerpts from her novel aloud. She’s articulate and highly intelligent. Germain is lured in by Margueritte’s passion for life and the magic of literature from which he has always felt excluded. As Margueritte broadens his mind by reading excerpts from her novel, Germain realizes that he is more of an intellectual than he has ever allowed himself to be. Afternoons spent reading aloud on their favorite bench transform their lives and start them both on a new journey—to literacy and respect for Germain, and to the deepest friendship for Margueritte.