Monsieur Schmidt

Représentation télévisée psychologique standard. Sur grand écran pour 2*, à la télévision pour 3*, au théâtre pour 4*. (17/05/2004)

Let's face it, we watch movies mainly for the spectacle and entertainment. When Alexander Payne made his film About Schmidt, it was a film about a midlife crisis and therefore much more digestible to the average viewer than an intimate drama about old age, illness, dying, and loneliness, albeit with carefully measured subtle humor. This is simply too unpleasant a subject that we want to push out of our consciousness and not be reminded of it by a film drama. About Schmidt is a realistic film without cheap effects and shocking twists, with a slow narrative based on high-quality dialogue and Jack Nicholson's excellent performance. The screenwriter cleverly chose the main character's commentary in the form of letters addressed to a little boy in Central Africa, whom he sponsors. The way the events unfold after the protagonist's retirement is also how it happens in real life. The creators indeed chose a protagonist who is a member of the well-off managerial class in a significant insurance company, with decent financial security for old age, so average American retirees are certainly different and face many more problems. But it would be really difficult to make this kind of film in the American mainstream studio system, even though it was made possible solely because a star like Nicholson was involved. Movie fans will surely remember him from a series of epic films and various villains, where his expressive acting stood out, but in About Schmidt, he was able to display a vast range of emotions, and his performance might even be considered one of his best. Overall impression: 90%. (20/01/2009)

About Schmidt is not a bad film, it’s an enjoyable intimate drama about the vagaries of ageing, something that brings far more vicissitudes and even adventures, perhaps, than the years that precede it. Besides, Jack Nicholson is God, no other actor could have pulled this story together like that and made the viewer throw in at least one more star for him. I stayed with him and his thoughts until the end, and even though the film drags quite a bit and is really only about Jack, I enjoyed it and the narrative through the letters managed to reach me strongly – by the end I was almost crying. (04/11/2012)

Nice, yeah, but what is it really about? The whole film passes uneventfully, slowly, probably like the life of a lonely, withdrawn old man, which wouldn't have been a bad thing in principle, but I kept waiting in vain for the plot to move, for a twist or a memorable situation, some emotion. There was nothing nothing of the sort, except for a few good moments (but they were few!). About Schmidt is really about nothing. It only reassured me that Nicholson is a great actor and can play anything, but we all know that by now. If you want anything from Alexander Payne, I definitely recommend his brilliant Sideways, released two years later. (22/06/2003)

When I saw this movie for the first time, I probably couldn’t appreciate it as well as I did literally half my lifetime later. I’ve always loved Jack Nicholson and once again, he certainly didn’t disappoint me. He’s as cynical as they make them. On the other hand, his character goes through amazing changes throughout the movie, so you should know that whatever you get to see in the first few minutes, you won’t get to see at the end. The ending is one big blast; hats off to Jack for such an acting performance and to Alexander Payne for his directing capabilities, he obviously knew where exactly to point the camera to blow me away. I haven’t felt this sort of understandable melancholy for a long time. It’s truly an art to find silver linings in sorrow and no matter how they perceive Jack in Hollywood, I really believed his character. It’s incredibly sad, but even so an incredibly beautiful movie. (31/01/2016)