With two such able actors in Caine and Poesy it would be hard for this film, which has a very simple plot, to go all that far wrong. Raises a lot of questions about life, families, love etc, which are mostly resolved without becoming too sentimental. Paris looks lovely in autumnal guise.
Caine's accent is very uneven, and Poesy's is also variable: at times she sounds almost American. Gillian Anderson's cameo as a self centred daughter is effective especially to contrast the more thoughtful son. One or two bizarre things - would you really sleep in a room in St Malo with the window wide open in what looks like November? The device of the dead wife appearing to the Professor does not work and is tedious.
But although the film is perhaps less meaningful than it imagines, it is still a pleasure to watch.