The Invitation

Truly delightful comedy from Goretta, later better known for The Lacemaker. A very simple plot - quiet office clerk inherits a marvellous country house when his beloved mother dies, and invites his 'friends' from work over for a summer garden party. But what distinguishes the film is its acute observation, and the way it gently scrapes away the stereotypes - office lecher, buffoon, nymphet, henpecked husband, etc - to reveal more complex figures all locked in private worlds of hope, loneliness, and despair. The film has aptly been compared to the work of Renoir, not only for its narrative similarity to La Règle du Jeu, but also because Goretta's tender yet unsentimental generosity towards his characters is akin to the French master's dictum that 'everybody has his reasons'.