Auntie Danielle (1990) User Reviews

"Little Devil" trapped in body of old lady -- Ultra-Dark Comedy!

[mdm-11 · 8/10 · 31 August 2005]

A film like "Tatie Danielle" is a welcome departure from the formula comedy-dramas out there focusing on the elderly members of our society. We're not dealing with another "Who will take care of Grandma" story, but are confronted with a real problem: This old lady is NOT the dear little Granny we know from story books. She isn't the type anyone would hate to ship off to a nursing home. She's the devil in disguise of a sweet old woman, who manipulates people around her to cause general unpleasantness.

In frequent moments of talking to herself (or rather her long-departed husband), Tatie Danielle fills us in on the "big picture". Apparently this woman has never worked or cared for herself. The widow of a high ranking military officer, living comfortably on a handsome pension, the old woman makes it her mission to terrorize anyone she encounters. The scene where a dear friend of many years dies because of Danielle's unreasonable demands to perform ridiculous cleaning chores shows the utter lack of compassion this woman has. Later she is party to abandoning an old family dog, more evidence of the cruelty within her.

Despite the roller-coaster ride of mean and spiteful behavior from an ungrateful, chronic malcontent, this film has many reflective moments, as well as a lot of good laughs. If you're put off by "Auntie Danielle's" mean cruelties, stick it out, because there is a big pay-off in the end, as well as a captivating story leading there. Not for everyone's taste, but certainly an excellent piece of International Cinema! The English subtitles are very efficient, giving just enough of the original French dialog to "translate" the meaning. Poor subtitles can spoil a foreign film, but an excellent job was done here!

Great film on Middle class french family life.

[jerbar2004 · 8/10 · 1 February 2011]

I can't think of how Holloywood would do a remake of the fine film of social manner "but" I hope they don't bother. The comedy never stops, Tatie Danielle is everyones favourite Aunt, we all love to hate her, and its not that difficult. One of my favourite scene is the bit when the "dog" gets dump in a Paris Street, (removing its collar, so that it can't be identified. The acting is very good. There are some very beautiful women in the film, including the young nurse in the hospital. The film is very French and one can learn a lot about the modern middle class in French today, just by looking at this film. Another plus, the film gets better with repeated viewing, and I have seen it about six or seven times already.

May I be spared from meeting such a woman!

[raymond-15 · 8/10 · 29 November 1999]

Tsilla Chelton gives a flawless performance as the cunning, scheming, mischievous old widow Auntie Danielle, She commands our attention in every scene and she is on the screen most of the time. Her aged housekeeper companion Odile is driven frantic by this cantankerous old shrew who insists she completes the most impossible and dangerous tasks such as cleaning the chandeliers. Her nephew and niece move in to look after her in her supposedly frail state of health and she makes life absolute hell for them, too. She has a framed photograph of her late husband Edouard hanging on the wall and she consults him on all her personal matters. I found these conversations highly amusing. The most entertaining part of the movie is when the relatives take off for Greece leaving Auntie Danielle under the care of a young woman employed to look after her. Sparks fly when these two obstinate individuals come face to face neither giving way to the other, The bed-wetting scene is quite a gem, but there are many other incidents which are equally amusing. The ending of the film in the Alps comes somewhat as a surprise as we see a complete transformation of Auntie. The spirited singing at the beginning and the end has nothing to do with the story, but I think it is a charming and original addition to a film which keeps you chuckling long after the credits have rolled.

Imagine a whole movie about Nancy Soprano...

[alice liddell · 7/10 · 26 January 2000]

A slight, eventually monotonous fable that is frequently very very funny. Its use of the medium may be rudimentary, and its general conceit - an old woman is a real pain to her family - hardly complex, but there is a real pleasure in seeing sheer, unwarranted nastiness in action. Tatie Danielle is the kind of wearingly negative OAP we all hope we'll grow up into.

The movie starts with Danielle being generally unpleasant to her equally elderly servant-companion, Odile, in a monstrous parody of the Barbie/Mabel relationship in THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN. They share a large house outside Paris - Odile doing all the chores to a chorus of ingratitude and hostility; Danielle accusing her of senility and thieving . A short visit from her nephew, Jean-Pierre's family, inspires in Danielle the desire to live with them in Paris, and fortuitously (or is it?) Odile meets with a fatal accident cleaning the chandelier on a rickety chair. Danielle sells her house, shares the money with her nephew and spinster niece, Jeanne, to ensure moving in with the former.

Here, she is an absolute horror, refusing to eat at dinner, insulting Jean-Pierre's wife, Catherine's cooking and looks, kicking the dog, deliberately losing the youngest child in the park. The family refuse to believe she is mean because of her financial generosity, but the barrage begins to wear. Just before they intend to holiday in Greece, with Danielle staying with Jeanne, the latter is dumped by her boyfriend when she announces her pregnancy; Jean-Pierre suggests she accompany them: a helper must be found for Danielle.

Outraged, Danielle ups her offensive. She begins to overeat to get sick, and throws water on the bed, feigning wetting. In a brilliantly farcical sequence, she disrupts her nephew's dinner with friends by turning on the TV at a blaring volume, begging for food and visibly defecating in her nightie. Eventually the family find a minder, Sandrine, and set off. But Sandrine refuses to take any nonsense, and after a power struggle and touching thawing , leaves Danielle to spend a last night with her American boyfriend. Left alone, Danielle deteriorates, lets the apartment go to pot, and sets it on fire. A national outrage ensues over this perceived abandonment and Danielle becomes a celebrity, while the family are taken to court for negligence. Her fraud is revealed, though, and she ends up in an old folks' home...

TATIE is very reminiscent of Renoir's masterpiece BOUDU SAUVE DES EAUX, in which a tramp rescued by a kindly bourgeois wreaks havoc on his benefactor. Danielle, for all her unpleasantness, is a subversive presence, disrupting complacent bourgeois domesticity, telling hard truths. The family aren't vile money-grabbers, and despite some grotesqueness, are an essentially decent lot. They are the new France, boasting shiny apartments with all mod cons, and bright colour schemes, tolerant liberal attitudes (one son is a gay dancer), dinner parties, trips to Greece. Their only crimes are pretentiousness, homogeneity (note the similarity of their names), and self satisfaction, but they are hardly Bunuellian monsters.

Danielle is the France they'd like to forget, reminder of a colonialist and collaborationist past. Her childlessness is linked to sterility and the pinched nature of her character; her husband died 50 years ago, just before the Fall of France? He is a seeming image of French glory and military prowess undermined by his comic looks. She is a past that refuses to be suppressed and her power reveals the fragility and superficiality of bright, modern, consumerist France, how easily it can descend into chaos and fragmentation. Catherine becomes a bag of nerves, Jean-Pierre convenes Mafia-like meetings to discuss family crises.

TATIE is very brave in never selling out on the character of Danielle, who, in Hollywood, would surely be reduced to mush. There is as much ridicule as pathos in her conversation with her dead husband, and her growing affection for the only character who won't cow before her is disabled by a lack of human sympathy and insight. We love Danielle precisely because she is so unbearable, a vile Id that cannot be swept away.

Tsilla Chelton's sublime performance, a mixture of evil, moroseness, regret and childish mischief, keeps the film watchable, although by the end one has probably had enough. The coda is delightful, though, rejecting cosy ideas of moral regeneracy. The style is more subtle than it first appears, with its plays of light and space serving to suffocate Danielle in her environment, and there are some pleasant, if conventionally mild, surreal long shots, involving an adorable, soon-to-be-betrayed dog.

Very unique

[MarioB · 10/10 · 27 August 2000]

You have probably read the others viewers comments and you know that this woman Tatie Danielle is very very bad. But I think she's worst than that! In 99 % of the movies, old women are funny, or touching. Not desperados or delinquent. But Tatie is. Or worst... Despite that, this movie is also very sarcastic about middle class families, and a certain way of life. This is truly very unique, a real mastepiece of black humor. One of my favorite comic movie of all time. Let's hope Hollywood will never make a remake.

The French Notes of a Scandal!

[Sylviastel · 7/10 · 17 February 2007]

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 delightfully evil!

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 6 July 2005]

Wow did I like this movie!! This is the story of a nasty old lady who treats everyone like her servants and pretty much hates everyone. She is not one of these cute or grandmotherly type old ladies, that's for sure! Her absolute awfulness is not reason enough to watch the movie--after all, it would hardly be engaging to JUST watch a movie of a horrible person. Instead, the writers really manipulate the viewer into ALMOST liking her or seeing something of value in this old crank--and THEN, she becomes even worse than you'd imagined! Its unrelenting cynicism is great. This movie reminded me of a much better written version of Problem Child with one MAJOR exception. In Problem Child, they had a cop-out ending when the rotten child's heart changed and he realized he really DID love his adopted dad. That NEVER rang true in Problem Child and Tatie Danielle never gives in to cheap sentimentality. It is funny and irreverent and very unusual to say the least.

I remember the tagline of the movie when it came out roughly translated to "you don't even know her but she hates you already". Wow--this really sums up the old crow!

By the way, what ever DID happen to the dog,....?

Wonderfully cynical and sadistic

[chuffnobbler · 17 October 2004]

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 movie is brilliant

[dizzybuckteeth · 9/10 · 14 February 2005]

This movie is brilliant. I would love to meet this aunt, or better, have this aunt. I wish all aunties were like her. She's the inner character inside of some of us -screaming out against all the algorithms by which one is supposed to live one's life by. She's a dissatisfied rebel. Her relationship with the paid housekeeper is one of the most touching I have ever seen in film. Very moving and deeply human. A great film for all who struggle and rebel. Tatie cuts through the crap!! The film is brilliantly acted and paced. The scenes of all the ordinary people doing their ordinary things are filmed with great compassion and tenderness. Which is why the ending of the film delivers such a great emotional punch line. This is a very memorable film. Everyone should have it in their library and show it to their children.

the old laughing lady

[dbdumonteil · 9/10 · 11 September 2004]

Etienne Chatiliez can keep a cool head! After the commercial and critical success of "Life is a long quiet river" (1988), there must have been an immense pressure on him to make a second movie. Two years later, he resurfaced with a new feature-length film, "Tatie Danielle". At first sight, this film seems to be less original than its predecessor. It is nevertheless a fact that it is a funnier movie to watch and it shows once again Chatiliez's brilliant talent.

Etienne Chatiliez's strength comes from his skill at making laugh of a serious topic, always with a caustic and devastating humor. Furthermore, he always finds place to insert in it a little touch of social satire. These film-maker's particular gifts were already present in "life is a long quiet river". We find them again with pleasure in "Tatie Danielle" where the director is surpassing himself and is going further in daring. Roughly, he is having a tremendous time with the adventures of this old malicious lady who is going to make life impossible for her nephews. The movie is bursting with comical sequences and no-one makes sparks fly of powerful dialogs as well as Chatiliez does. Through the Billard family's trouble then Sandrine with "Tatie Danielle", a progressive tension grows which reaches its climax in the sequence when Tatie Danielle, hopeless after Sandrine's departure ransacks her nephews' flat and accuses them!

Like in "Life is a long quiet river", the contrast constitutes one of the author's main weapons. On one hand, Tatie Danielle, an old lady full of nastiness and on another hand, her nephews with an excessive kindness. It is useful to point out that the director makes a somewhat mocking description of his characters. For example, Tatie Danielle may be unbearable, she is also a very lonely old woman. She can only confide in her late husband. The latter is depicted in a photography and he is squinting! Through this characteristic, Chatiliez cocks a snook at her main character. On another hand, in the Billard family, the father and the children have got pretty much the same first name: Jean. A discreet way to laugh at this average French family

But Etienne Chatiliez has more than one string to his bow. Indeed, he also understood that sometimes it is better to use the power of suggestion to make particular moments successful. Thus, we learn that Tatie Danielle stirs up ill-feeling in the old people's home through the nurses and the head doctor's words.

And especially, especially, Chatiliez has got a sharp sense of observation. His movie abounds of little black ideas or details that irresistibly kick the bull's eye.

"Tatie Danielle" also proves one thing. Sometimes it is no-use hiring famous actors to secure the success of a movie. At the time of its release in 1990, nearly all the actors were virtually unknown. But Tsilla Chelton gives a flawless performance and it is a delight to see Isabelle Nanty subduing the tough octogenarian.

If we make an exception of some little weaknesses (Florence Quentin, the scriptwriter has forgotten to delete a few clichés linked to old people and there are some predictable sudden new developments), you come out elated of the projection of Etienne Chatiliez's intelligent and malicious second movie. He passes us on the pleasure he took in shooting this story. A really funny movie and there's no reason to deny oneself of it.

Tiring gags and boring passive aggressive old lady

[cacademia · 3/10 · 1 March 2015]

Urged by one of my friends, who revered it, I saw this movie when I was in my twenties. I must say that I disagree with his judgment as well as with all the previous reviews I have read on this site, except for a few external critics. Despite my youth, I hardly laughed at the wickedness, evil intentions and misdeeds of the movie's main character, and was grateful when the movie could pull out a sincere smile from me. Compared with other movies where an evil and passive aggressive personality tries to manipulate people around them, such as Fassbinder's "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant", or more recently, Lars von Trier's "Breaking the waves", just to name a few, this movie has a lot to learn. In addition, it lacks any aesthetic interest (photography, sound track, etc.). Finally, the scenes, situations and repetitive gags in this movie are tiresome, just as the old lady, whose psychology is as profound as the epidermis.

Must see therapy for those with mean relatives

[rmoba13 · 9/10 · 30 September 2005]

This should be a cult film for those with mean elderly relatives. We have recommended this to folks with hypercritical mothers, mothers-in-law, and others, who also said "She's mean." And nobody else believes them, because the relative can be just so nice to others. we've seen the little smirk that comes across her face when she makes somebody else suffer. She is also willing to suffer herself, if it means others suffer even more.

This film rings so true that it must have been based somebody's actual experience. Packaging family angst as a comedy probably wouldn't sell in Hollywood, so we have to pick this up from the French.

Cinematically, it's better than average, with notable performances from Tati and her niece and nephew.

It's charming and amusing to boot.

A kick in the nose to the hypocrisy of some family ties

[chessnia-1 · 10/10 · 17 January 2007]

Actually, I think you've missed the whole point of the movie. Although most of the film does portray a nasty old lady, the truth is that most of her family members are just a bunch of hypocrites and she simply can't stand people being nice to her simply because she's old. They do not respect her, they pretend that they do, but they don't. The movie is a veiled criticism to the hypocrisy of those family ties. I liked her character from the very first minute because she's honest in the sense that she knows very well that those around her simply can't stand her nor do they respect her will to live and be free. Highly recommended.

A great black comedy

[djbabu_30 · 10/10 · 6 March 2012]

From famous french director Etienne Chatillez this hilarious black comedy shows you the problems between old people and their relatives. 'Auntie Danielle'(Tsilla Chenton), an 82 years old widow with a malicious personality. After the accidental death of Odile (Neige Dolski) the housekeeper who has spend a life time taking care of her, Paris is her only destination. Her nephew Jean-Pierre (Eric Prat) and his wife Catherine (Catherine Jacob) decide to welcome the beloved auntie to their home in the big city. The old lady finds hard to accept the new conditions of living, which ends up in a difficulty and sometimes nasty behavior towards her family. When Jean-Pierre decides to take his wife and kids on summer holidays, Sandrine Vonnier (Isabelle Nanty) is employed to take care of the old lady. Their personalities clash in the beginning, but soon auntie Danielle realizes that Sandrine is a young version of herself. They start to form kind of friendship and the madame Bulliard seems to be happier and actually quite nice. Excellent performance by a former french theater actress Tsilla Chelton. Absolute must see for fans of black comedy. It will make you laugh until you cry.

Anti Everything

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 22 June 2005]

Looking rather similar to Ruth Gordon Tsilla Chelton who takes the eponymous role here gives us a Master Class in Mischief if stopping short of downright evil. She is an amalgam of every irascible curmudgeon you've ever met and wished you hadn't and although it's difficult to discern a secondary meaning other than a Case History of the worst aspects of old age this is a film to be enjoyed as one enjoys a pile-up in a motor race safe in the knowledge that we don't indulge in Formula 1 so will never experience those thrills other than vicariously but most of us, on the other hand, will grow old and God forbid we run across a Tatie Danielle of our own. It's also good to see Karin Viard and Isabelle Nanty in early appearances displaying the promise we have now seen fulfilled. One to see again.

Elle est vraiment méchante! (She's so bad!)

[ethiema · 24 March 1999]

You think you know the worst human being? You don't know Tatie Danielle! She's the one who's going to make a fool out of you! Be careful! She's coming in your house!

What I like the most in this movie, is that she's bad... from the beginning, 'til the ending... The miracle of almost all Hollywood movies do not happen in this movie. The "happy ending" is only for Tatie Danielle...

Tatie Danielle... a great movie! You don't speak french? You're missing something!

A 90 Minutes bore !

[pierrealix-3 · 3/10 · 7 May 2020]

The Best thing in this movie is its subtitle : "You don't know her...but she already hates you"......quite appealing I must confess but it is a misleading advertising...if you're looking for someone evil it is sure the guy who is in charge of the advertising !....the old lady is supposed to be wicked and nasty but her complete lack of personality ruins what she tries to be...I kept thinking throughout this endless film about Barbara Stanwyck or Ruth Gordon and what they could have made of this character....Catherine Jacob is perfect as she always is but that's all...

"Tatie Danielle" or the brand-name for all grumpy (yet lovable) old women of the world..

[ElMaruecan82 · 8/10 · 5 January 2016]

"You don't know her, but she already hates you".

And you better believe it. One of the film's most memorable shots is a masterstroke of silent comedy, in a park, two old ladies are sitting on benches, one of them is grumpily eating a cake, the other one, visibly amused, smilingly salutes her. The grumpy one immediately replies by sticking out her tongue and making such a childish grimace the smile immediately turns into disgust. That's Tatie Danielle.

She indeed hates everyone, except her beloved (deceased) husband, a man whose only relic is a majestic portrait of his glorious squinting face, cleverly representing our perspective as viewers, as she spends her time talking to him, and sharing her intimate feelings. Since he's the person she truly loved, she can afford to be sincere with him, and leave the rest of the time for her treacheries, her lies and manipulative acting. This is what makes the late Tsilla Chelton's performance so great, is that there are two levels of acting, she's playing an old woman who plays with people's emotions, a master of emotional intelligence who didn't need Daniel Goleman for that.

Still, what a heartless bitch! We discover her as she torments her surprisingly obedient (and equally old, too) servant. When she praises her good health saying "I'll die before you", Tatie Danielle retorts dryly "I hope so" as if it was the least God could do to her. Fate proves her right anyway, as she dies a few days later, and what a death, asked to clean a chandelier, she lamentably fell off the ladder. Tatie Danielle sheds no tears; she only understands that she doesn't need to play the miserable rhapsody to her great-nephew (Eric Prat) and his well- meaning wife Catherine (Catherine Jacob), she'll finally invade their privacy, such a small price to pay for the future heirs, no?

In fact no, for even in the sweetest and most patient environment, Tatie Danielle behaves like a spoiled brat, except that she's got the benefit of the age, and long years of human nature study behind her. And that is the film's most refreshing aspect, to (finally, I want to say) let an old person behave badly, oblivious to the hurt feelings of the beloved ones, not even the smaller ones. The poor little boy can't even show his drawing and is pushed outside her room, before she locks the door. Later, they go outside and she accidentally "loses" him before getting back home. I wasn't even sure I wanted to laugh. The film would feature a similar too-mean-for laughs moment I don't dare to spoil.

And the middle-act is just too delightful for words, and yes, watching Tatie Danielle tormenting the Family, especially the constantly sobbing Catherine, pretending to hate basil, or to stuff herself with food so she can better vomit at night, to ruin a nice evening with guests by turning on TV, asking for some food in the most miserable way, and getting off the chair by showing an ugly stain on her pajamas, hence inspiring one of the guest a commentary on the same level as De Gaulle observing Petain's downfall after the Liberation: "the old age is a ship wreck". What comes later will provide some interesting insights on Tatie Danielle's personality, indirectly answering the comment.

Following their friends' advice, the couple travels to Greece for summer holidays. Sandrine, a housekeeper, will take care of Tatie Danielle, who's ready to put her down, underestimating this big blue-eyed plump blonde, superbly played by Isabelle Nanty (the cigarette vendor in "Amelie"). Tatie Danielle refuses to get up, to eat in the kitchen, she spills water on bed, but Sandrine won't have it. She lets her sleep, doesn't serve her when time is past and takes her stolen money back … their psychological duel reaches its pinnacle when coming back from a messy toilet, Sandrine gives Tatie Danielle one hell of a slap. Tatie Danielle has found her match, and for some reason, we're not surprised when later, the two become friends.

That's because the film carries the signature of director-writer Etienne Chatillez, whose films always work as powerful social commentaries beyond the comedy aspect. His previous hit, was "Life is a Long Quiet River" which was about of class struggle with the case of two exchanged babies as a backdrop. Tatie Danielle is the living proof that it's precisely because old age is a ship wreck that the only strength that is still viable is the power of being a little mean spirited, manipulative and greedy, of not turning back a smile, that's also part of human nature. It's more respectful toward old people not to make their gentleness and smiles obvious. Tatie Danielle needs this strength and only when she finds it in Sandrine, she reveals her good side.

With the other persons, it's another story. In a retiring house, an old lady who's been bullied by her and constantly prevented from watching TV with her, comes happily with her daughter, who just brought pastry. Later, the old lady comes back and finds Tatie Danielle devouring the cake, she says "isn't my daughter nice?" "Yes, but she's quite ugly", a moment with the same comical impact as the park scene, only with words. That's the comedic merit "Tatie Danielle", a comedy that also hits a sensitive chord, as 'Tatie Danielle' has became a brand-name for grumpy old female parent, we all know and have a 'Tatie Danielle' in our family.

And the film shows something subtle but very revealing about human nature: we're attached to mean persons? Why? Maybe because we subtly admire them, and the way they stick to themselves, and succeed in whatever they try. There's indeed something strangely and appealing about this lady.

After all, why would we come to see someone who, from the tag-line, already hates us?

Best French comedy ever

[gut-6 · 9/10 · 15 August 2006]

I am not a fan of French movies generally, as they tend too often towards smug pretentiousness, more-sensitive-than-thou preciousness, and Marxist petulance. None of this makes for good comedy. How refreshing then to see a truly great black comedy concerning a common but under-explored comic theme, the evil, manipulative grannie, a woman whose best years are far behind her and whose only remaining purpose in life is to try to drag everyone else down to her level of misery by cynically exploiting their naive pity and sympathy, sort of a one-woman Religion of Peace. As the director said in interviews at the time, every family seems to have a Tatie Danielle. While the Australian television series "Mother and Son" was based on a similar premise, "Mother and Son" wanted to make the characters ultimately sympathetic whereas "Tatie Danielle" has no such agenda. Consequently Tatie Danielle goes much further and is therefore much funnier. You could not have picked a better actress for the role than Tsilla Chelton. Her facial expression combines to perfection pure malice, feigned helplessness and impish glee, and the film largely succeeds on the strength of her acting. This is a must-see comedy, especially in company with your elderly, manipulative female relatives. If you enjoyed this film, do see the equally excellent "Baxter" made just one year later, another highly original French black comedy albeit less funny and MUCH darker.

A Good Film...Don't be put off by the fact its in French

[bassist_gurl · 8/10 · 11 July 2005]

Tatie Danielle is a film about an evil old lady who (at the beginning) lives in the south of France with a helper, Odile, who is probably in poorer health than she is. I have to say, when i say evil, i don't mean Disney-type evil-but-all-right-underneath evil. I mean truly evil.

Odile dies after falling off a ladder cleaning the chandelier Tatie Danielle bugged her about for ages, Tatie Danielle moves to Paris to live with her nephew, his wife, and his two sons, one an innocent little boy, the other a homosexual teenager. Tatie Danielle, in the guise of being a frail old lady, starts to make life hell for this family as well, doing things such as abandoning the younger son in the park and wetting herself during a dinner party.

Realising that Tatie Danielle is truly evil, her nephew decides that when the family goes to Greece on holiday, instead of his sister looking after Tatie Danielle as planned, he will hire another helper instead.

Tatie Danielle tries to carry on her old tricks with the new, younger helper but she soon finds she has met her match.

This film has a very dry humor, and is extremely entertaining to watch. The acting is also of a high standard. As a British person living in France, i watched this film in my french class at school without any subtitles, and we all agreed that it was a good film. Don't be put off by the fact it is in French, and you might have to read subtitles if you don't understand French. Just remember, in France most of the films have come from America or Britain and the French people have to read subtitles a lot more! I would particularly recommend this film if you are learning French.

Oh that old lady!

[LeRoyMarko · 8/10 · 17 April 2001]

Tatie Danielle is an old lady who's very difficult to live with, to say the least. This movie is witty and funny. Tsilla Chelton is fabulous as Tatie. I also enjoyed seeing Catherine Jacob, which I think is one of the good actress from France.

Out of 100, it was good for 84.

Hilarious

[joeybyrd-01954 · 9/10 · 29 May 2018]

I aspire to grow into an old cow like Tatie Danielle.

superb

[Maggot-6 · 9/10 · 31 May 2000]

this is a very entertaining flick. even some old high school french would enhance the pleasure, but is not required. try it if you have a sense of humor beyond low brow, appreciate wit,

this is fun

i absolutely love it

[tininie · 9 April 2003]

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.

Devilish

[adamstott1984 · 8/10 · 23 April 2010]

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.