Chotard and Company: When Poetry Meets the Grocery Aisle

Is this for you?

If you like movies where people just yell in nice rooms, you'll be fine. If you need explosions or a fast-paced plot, keep walking. This is for people who enjoy watching a grumpy man have his entire worldview upended because of a book. Don't go in expecting some grand masterpiece; it's just a funny, sometimes slightly messy look at family pride.

The whole thing hinges on this really prickly dynamic between the grocer and his new son-in-law. It reminded me a bit of the domestic tension in The Tough Guy, where the household atmosphere is just thick with unspoken annoyance. You can practically taste the stale air in that grocery office.

The Poetry Problem

Julien is a poet. He’s the kind of guy who looks like he’s permanently staring at a cloud while everyone else is trying to inventory sugar sacks. Fernand Charpin plays the grocer, and honestly, the way his face turns red when Julien talks about verses is the best part of the movie. It’s not subtle, but it’s real.

There’s a scene where they’re sitting at dinner and it just goes on for ages. It’s awkward, but in that specific way a family dinner gets when someone has clearly been pushed to the edge. You can feel the silence pressing in. Nobody knows where to look.

Then the prize happens.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Chotard and Company (1933) through its definitive frames.

The tone shifts entirely once that letter arrives. Suddenly, the poet isn't a deadbeat anymore; he’s a celebrity. The way the father-in-law changes his tune is almost painful to watch. It’s a total 180, and he doesn't even have the decency to feel embarrassed about it. 🙄

It’s not as polished as some of Renoir's later work. It feels a bit like a stage play that wandered onto a film set. But sometimes that’s better. It gives the actors room to be messy.

Small observations

• The grocery store set looks surprisingly dusty. Like, actually dusty.
• I spent way too much time looking at the background furniture. Why is that chair so awkwardly placed?
• The dialogue is fast. Sometimes too fast. You miss a joke and then you're already three scenes deep into a shouting match.

It’s an uneven ride. There are moments where the camera just sits there while two people argue, and it feels like you're hiding under the table waiting for it to end. But that’s family, isn't it? It’s rarely elegant.

If you’re comparing this to the sheer chaotic energy of It's a Gift, you’ll find this much quieter and more focused on the ego. It’s not trying to save the world. It’s just trying to survive Sunday dinner.

I left the movie thinking about how silly it is that we let a little bit of fame change how we value people we see every single day. Or maybe I was just hungry from all the grocery talk. Either way, it stuck with me.