Pierre (Gérard Lanvin), a 60-year-widower, finds himself stuck in a hospital bed with his leg in a cast after an accident and no memory of it. A grump who doesn’t like to be disturbed, Pierre is forced to deal with doctors, interns, bad food, no comfort, intrusive nurses, the policeman in charge of his case (Fred Testot) and his own brother Hervé (Jean-Pierre Darroussin). He’s going to have to redefine his priorities: “Only idiots don’t change their minds.” And so Pierre starts to look at life differently, he softens up and gets a new lease on life.

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Anyone who’s ever been in a hospital can relate: military mealtimes, wake-up calls at sunrise for your morning constitutional, doctors who ignore you, questions that don’t get answered, loud neighbors who leave the TV on when they sleep, an intrusive family… Strangely enough, the place we’re supposed to get rest doesn’t offer any. Gérard Lanvin brilliantly plays a grumpy and inflexible almost-old man. Jean Becker succeeds in an intelligent bit of sleight-of-hand as the people Pierre meets soften him up and make him more human, thanks also to perfect dialogue by Jean–Loup Dabadie. Also worth mentioning is journalist Anne-Sophie Lapix in her first on-screen role as Pierre’s ex Florence, who unexpectedly turns up to look after him. A moving, funny movie that’s perfect for the coming fall months.