“She ate the bread of life to the last crumb”

Madame Berthe (Sylvie) is an elderly woman who has just been left a widow after the death of her husband. Her children are naturally worried about their mother, who had devoted her entire life to her marriage and has suddenly been left without direction. She insists that she can get by with very little, and implores them to give her only a small amount so that she can continue to survive on her paltry lifestyle. However, her newfound freedom has meant that Berthe is given another lease on life, and with every journey she makes to the town involves her satiating her growing sense of adventure. Over the next eighteen months, Berthe develops an entirely new life – the quiet old lady has flourished into a true bon vivant, indulging in the finest luxuries, normally accompanied by Rosalie (Malka Ribowska), a raggedy waitress who takes a liking to the old woman, and Alphonse (Jean Bouise), a humble cobbler who dabbles in communist rhetoric in his spare time. This change in her personality begins to be a point of contention for her children and grandchildren, who have different opinions on their matriarch’s behaviour – her son Albert (Étienne Bierry) is vehemently against this development – his mother needs to continue to live a simple life and not be wasting what little money she has on these broad extravagances. However her grandson Pierre (Victor Lanoux) sees this an entirely different way – Berthe had lived a long life, and using what remains as a means to discuss philosophy with passionate scholars, engage in any film that grabs her attention, take part in fruitless gambling and even go on a luxurious holiday from time to time is exactly what she deserves. Berthe has spent her life in service, the reaping of the benefits is long overdue.

There are some films that are simply too delightful for their own good, and it is undeniable that The Shameless Old Lady (French: La Vieille dame indigne) is one of them. An exuberant, yet deeply bittersweet, comedy about rebellion and change, its a beautifully poetic story of one woman realizing the boundless limits of her own existence as a response to a tragedy that forces her into reconsidering what she is meant to be doing with her life. Instead of sitting around and spending it in the careful rumination those around her believe to be most beneficial, she decides to embrace life and enjoy every moment. This turns into one of the most endearing comedies produced during the 1960s, an effervescent bundle of charms and delights that never allows the audience’s attention to be diverted for even a brief moment, creating a hilariously irreverent story of an old woman going in search of her younger soul, and the various adventures she has when she finds it. René Allio truly made an exceptional film with  The Shameless Old Lady, a poignant ode to existence and the refusal of the soul to buckle under expectations. It is a very simple affair, and certainly not something that will be considered particularly unique, but it is nonetheless an endlessly charming collection of moments, sewn together in an empathetic fabric and presented to us as a tapestry of a life well-lived, simultaneously breaking our hearts and reminding us to cherish every moment, regardless of how inconsequential we may think it would be. A film about the volatility of life, and the numerous surprises that it has in store for all of us, The Shameless Old Lady is an extraordinarily fascinating film that encompasses issues of our own mortality with grace, humour and an endless humanity that clearly knows absolutely no bounds. It approaches serious issues with an immense amount of heartfulness and soulful sincerity, which often contrasts with the more disquieting subject matter – this could be one of the most joyful films to ever begin and end with demise, without making light of the issue, but not being apprehensive to address it either. It is a layered work of unrestrained artistry and a truly exceptional piece of cinema that is unwavering in its commitment to presenting a unique portrait of humanity and its many idiosyncracies.

Making a comedy about the fragility of life is certainly not an easy take, and René Allio truly had his work cut out of him, no less considering he was adapting from a novel written by Bertolt Brecht, one of the finest conveyors of the human condition in the form of the dramatic arts to ever live. The Shameless Old Lady is the perfect realization of many themes that are all too often found in contemporary fiction, but rarely with this kind of sincerity. The subgenre of an older person realizing that they have not achieved everything they have wanted to, and resolve to spend the rest of their lives realizing everything they hoped to is one that we’ve seen many times before, but which truly is at its pinnacle with this film. The domestic comedy of manners has always persisted, and really comes into its own with this gloriously subversive story of introspection, tasteful self-indulgence and endless humour. It takes a relatively simple premise, and elevates it to an entirely new level – filled with heart and an immense amount of good-natured satire that never feels mean-spirited, even when aimed at the hedonistic younger generation that the protagonist so gleefully rebels against as a way of regaining a sense of youth that she lost decades before. It’s an elegant comedy with broad overtures of heartwrenching drama, and the director truly does well in evoking the upbeat, jovial sense of humour, but contrasting it with a sense of melancholy that pervades every frame of the film. A gentle, warm comedy that takes us on a truly compelling journey into the trials and tribulations of a woman realizing her own finite existence, and actively doing her best to make every moment count, The Shameless Old Lady is a truly wonderful film, for so many reasons.

Everything about The Shameless Old Lady is calibrated to be a showcase for Sylvie, who gives one of the decade’s finest performances as an elderly widow going in search of a new life in the wake of a tragedy. A very intimate drama, the film is intent on exploring her as a character and does exceptionally well in giving the veteran character actress the vehicle she deserved, after decades of working in the profession, with her career going as far back as the genesis of the silent era. This is the kind of performance that lingers on the mind, and everyone involved in this film knew that, regardless of how compelling the story was, or how other characters were woven into the fabric of the film, The Shameless Old Lady is entirely about Sylvie, and diligently stay out of the way enough to give her the space to truly captivate the audience. Moreover, this film did not cast her for the sake of having a lovable old lady in the role – Allio’s immense adoration for her is present in every frame of the film, his camera being so enamoured with her, its almost incomprehensible that he found the strength to look away for even just a moment. She captivates the screen with a quiet ferocity, her immense expressivity and astonishing subtletly, where she’s able to say an enormous amount without uttering a single word, makes this a truly enthralling performance from an actress who was stepping out of the shadows of supporting roles and proving that she could command the screen in an effortlessly natural way. The rest of the cast of The Shameless Old Lady are all undeniably excellent (Étienne Bierry being a particular highlight as her pernickety son), but they’re all simply in service of Sylvie, to who this film belongs to entirely. Her performance is one that needs to be experienced, as the true might of what she’s doing here transcends any words, and proves to be almost ethereal in its elegance, which is certainly quite a testament to the virtue of experience, even when it was acquired through half a century in supporting roles.

It’s only in the final moments that we realize the true scope of The Shameless Old Lady – a series of vignettes of a woman enjoying the last few months of her life, which come together to form one of the most magnificent social fables of the 1960s. The concluding remarks of the film make it very clear that this was a story of enjoying life – its echoed in the quote that began this review, which are incidentally the words that end the film. The Shameless Old Lady is an inherently bittersweet film, but one that does not thrive on being downbeat of sobering – rather, it goes another direction with a story that could have easily been saccharine or manipulative, choosing to be a broad celebration of life, albeit one that doesn’t default into implausibility. It’s an exuberant comedy with an enormous amount of emotional heft, all of which is unimpeachably authentic – there’s not a false moment anywhere in this film, which is especially notable when we realize how it was a story of finding endless joy in the wake of a tragedy, providing an insightful look into the human condition that is humorous without being reckless. An enriching drama filled to the brim with buoyancy and charm, there aren’t many films that can profess to being as joyful as this one. The soulful portrayal of existence, compounded with the ambition of telling such a story and the performers that are tasked with bringing it to life, is more than enough to qualify The Shameless Old Lady as one of the most earnest, heartwarming films of its era, and a resounding success in every way. It’s an unforgettable voyage into the adventures of someone realizing that life is worth living – and if that’s not a compelling story, then absolutely nothing else is.