This is the kind of movie only the French can make. . .about two people getting together and the differences they make in each other's lives. More often than not, whenever Hollywood attempts to make a small movie, it comes off ham-handed. Although this movie may be as light as a croissant, it's quite tasty as well.

There have been more movies about "May - December romances" than I care to remember. All but a few (such as "Lost in Translation") come off as a typical male mid-life crisis sex fantasy. Although there is some rather steamy scenes in "The Housekeeper", the movie isn't so much about romance as it is about how the people we meet can cause changes in our lives.

Jean-Pierre Bacri plays a middle-aged sound engineer who's separated from his wife and the small apartment he lives in really shows it. He hires Emelie Duquenne, an alluring twenty-something, who, after a few days on the job, is put out on the street when her boyfriend breaks up with her. She asks the engineer if she can stay with him a few days while she finds another place. What kind of lonely middle-aged man can say no to that? Naturally a relationship develops and before long both of them are swept up in a passionate romance that the both of them know will end badly.

The acting by both leads is superb, especially Mr. Bacri who at the end of this movie show the pain of one of life's lessons earned the hard way. Ms. Duquenne (last seen in "Brotherhood of the Wolf") is gorgeous and is convincing as a young woman who is still sometimes under the control of her raging hormones. Veteren director Claude Berri gives "The Housekeeper" just the right amounts of humor and pathos with a light touch making this film on DVD the perfect escape from the poundings of the X-Men and the Hulk. :p