Winter Song

In this affecting and acrobatic film that ping-pongs between stories and even time periods, the tenants of an apartment building are everywhere at once, galvanized around a beloved old concierge. They include his anthropology-obsessed friend (noted actor/filmmaker Pierre Etaix), as well as assorted aristocrats and youngsters in love and at war with local police who are bent on evicting homeless people. Also on hand is a band of roller-skating purse snatchers who thread the streets of Paris like mischievous fairies redistributing objects and helping us see what matters: friendship and a roof over one’s head. Mingling tragedy and comedy, satire and surrealism in his own inimitable way, Iosseliani shows how the search for happiness is often stymied by bureaucrats and public officials. There are times when a mysterious door in an alleyway wall presents itself to characters, leading to a magical garden where they can take repose. Winter Song, with its grace and elegance, offers viewers a similar gateway to its garden of earthy delights.