Jofroi: A Grumpy Old Man vs. Some Trees

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies that move at the speed of a dusty afternoon in Provence, then yes. It is a simple story, almost like a fable you’d hear over a glass of wine that’s been sitting out too long.

If you need high stakes, car chases, or people who actually communicate like functional human beings, stay away. This is for the patient folks.

The whole thing hinges on Jofroi, who is basically the king of being difficult. He sells his land, gets the money, and then acts shocked—truly shocked—when the new owner decides to do what people usually do with land they bought. He wants to cut down the trees. Jofroi says no. He says it with a shotgun.

There is a specific kind of stubbornness here that feels incredibly real. It is not heroic. It is just petty, sad, and very human. When he threatens to kill himself if the trees fall, the neighbor looks at him like he’s lost his marbles. Honestly? He has.

The pacing is weirdly hypnotic. It doesn't rush. It lets the silence between the arguments hang there until it feels like you're standing in the sun with them. I found myself counting the leaves in the background during one argument, which probably says more about my attention span than the film.

Henri Poupon plays Jofroi with such a mix of genuine love for his trees and pure, unadulterated spite for his neighbor that it’s hard to look away. You want to shake him, but you also kind of get it. Who hasn't wanted to hold onto something just because you were there first?

• The sound of the wind in the trees is louder than the dialogue in some scenes.
• The neighbor looks tired, just bone-tired, for the entire movie.
• That one shot of the axe hitting the wood—you can feel the tension in your own shoulders.

It’s not as manic as The Dictator, obviously, but it has that same sense of a man deciding the world is going to end because he said so. It’s a very small, very loud movie about nothing, which is usually where the best stuff happens.

I left it feeling a bit dusty, if that makes sense. Like I’d spent an hour sitting on a stone wall watching a fight I wasn't invited to. It’s messy, it’s grumpy, and it’s surprisingly hard to shake off. 🌳