‘Housekeeper’ is a tidy pleasure

Leave it to a veteran French filmmaker, Claude Berri, to bring maximum charm, wisdom and humor to a May-December romance in “The Housekeeper,” his stylish adaptation of a novel by Christian Oster. His film is a summer treat for sophisticated moviegoers -- graceful and serious, yet not overly so. This easy-to-take movie gets everything just right and is a pleasure to watch.

Going about his solitary routines, Jacques Gautier (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a handsome man in his late 40s or early 50s, has a small but tasteful apartment in a fine old building in central Paris and a good job as a sound recording engineer; he dresses well and enjoys jazz and classical music.

However, six months earlier his wife of 15 years left him for another man, leaving him deeply hurt. Emerging from his funk, he’s fed up with his messy apartment and answers an ad on a bulletin board: “Young woman will do housework.”

Laura (Emilie Dequenne) turns out to be inexperienced but young, pretty and eager to prove herself. She’s also self-possessed. When Jacques tactlessly calls attention to her stringy hair with its bleached ends from a nearly grown-out dye job, she retorts that she won’t be cleaning with her hair.

Bright and energetic, Laura takes to her new job and proves an excellent, thoughtful choice for Jacques, who is sufficiently pleased to hire her for additional days.

All goes well until Laura hesitantly tells Jacques that she and her boyfriend have broken up and that he has thrown her out. Reluctantly, he agrees to put her up for a few days, and in no time Laura makes a successful pass at him.

An amusing period of adjustment follows: she likes loud pop music, game shows and horror movies on TV, but the two care enough for each other to work things out.

Inevitably, the film takes an increasingly serious direction that reveals Berri and Oster’s amused but compassionate grasp of human nature.

Bacri’s portrayal of a sophisticated but vulnerable man is subtle and multifaceted, while Dequenne brims over with spontaneity. Like the movie they inhabit, their characters are quite likable and genuine, and we don’t want to see either of them get hurt.

*

‘The Housekeeper’

MPAA rating: Unrated

Times guidelines: Nudity, sex, adult themes

Jean-Pierre Bacri...Jacques

Emilie Dequenne...Laura

Brigitte Catillon...Claire

Jacques Frantz...Ralph

Axelle Abbadie...Helene

Catherine Breillat...Constance

A Palm Pictures release of a Hirsch and Pathe Renn production. Writer-director Claude Berri, based on the Christian Oster novel. Executive producer Pierre Grunstein. Cinematographer/artistic consultant Eric Gautier. Editor Francois Gedigier. Music Frederic Botton. Costumes Corinne Jorry. Production designer Hoang Thanh At. Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes.

At selected theaters.