AllMovie

In Gardens of Autumn humans and animals coexist on a platform of absurdity. Ostriches and elephants litter the background of director Otar Iosseliani's analysis of old age and politics, depicted as a ridiculous pageant of shifting power amidst a flummoxed globalized France. After being pushed out of office by a popular coup, Minister Vincent (Severin Blancet) wanders around Paris tracking down former lovers and drinking with old chums. African immigrants have invaded his childhood home and his mother (Michel Piccoli) is played by a man in drag. Iosseliani's flat satiric style is derivative of Luis Bunuel to a fault and it's smug, arrogant humor can start to chafe. The portrayal of government as a revolving door of buffoons isn't original or particularly prescient. Though Vincent represents a dying patriarchal generation it is not clear, despite the satirical elements, whether or not Iosseliani is supportive of his hero, particularly regarding Vincent's xenophobia and stereotypically French male chauvinism. Gardens of Autumn's strongest moments are contained in the images of kicked around retired power brokers, wandering through an increasingly unrecognizable menagerie that they once ruled.