Conversations with My Gardener

After establishing a solid artistic reputation in Paris, a man in his fifties returns to his roots in the heart of central France to take possession of the house where he grew up. The building is surrounded by a large plot of land that the painter has neither the inclination nor the talent to look after. He places an ad in a local paper, and the first to respond is a former classmate from grade school who the painter hasn’t seen for years.
While spending long days in the gardener’s company, the painter discovers by impressionist touches a man who initially intrigues, and then fascinates because of his openness and simplicity. His life is marked out by simple reference points. He is uncomplicatedly happy, he feels no bitterness or jealousy. And his heroes are always simple folk.
His value system passes through an unique criteria that, consciously or not, operates as a yardstick to judge people or things: commonsense. His friend’s paintings only find favor with him after hours of quiet observation.
Thus the two men pursue a kind of delayed and fraternal adolescence which mingles together their families, their knowledge, carrots, pumpkins, life, death, plane travel, currant bushes, tastes, and colors. And, through each other’s eyes, they see the world’s spectacle in a different light.
They quietly invite us into their daily discovery “of sharing.” The gardener makes things grow, like the painter paints to show.
Henri Cueco, a painter and radio host sensitive to ordinary people's lives, offers us an affecting and simple story of friendship and camaraderie.