Nicolas: Nico Tarielashvili	Mother/Wife: Lily Lavina
Gaston: Philippe Bas	Paulette: Stephanie Hainque
Hobo: Amiran Amiranashvili	Lover: Emmanuel de Chauvigny
Father: Otar Iosseliani	Valerie: Mirabelle Kirkland
Director: Otar Iosseliani

Story Line: With the interplay in their daily lives between those who are very rich with those at the opposite end of the economic scale, Farewell, Home Sweet Home, illustrates how they live and think. It does so in a plot that unfolds slowly, with minimal dialogue, while at the same time allowing important events to happen very quickly. One could say that this is a silent film with sound.

Director Iosseliani portrays a very rich, alcoholic patriarch living in a chateau outside of Paris with his wife, played by Lily Lavina, and children, who range from preschoolers to a young adult son. Most of the time the old man is locked in his room playing with his train set…and fondling the maid Valerie (Mirabelle Kirkland) who brings him his meals. This maid not only serves meals on silver trays to her wealthy employers, but she also cleans windows while scaling from the rooftop attached to a rope. It would appear that her destiny is yet to be fulfilled.

Lavina plays a high powered executive, who commutes to work in a helicopter and is having an affair with a wealthy business associate. Although it's OK for her to have extra marital sex, she becomes outraged when the maid is suspected of having sex with her husband. We're not quite sure if it's sex or maybe that her husband just wants to play touchy feely with the hired help. This wife might be more angry about who her husband is suspected of having sex with, a servant, than the fact that he wants to have sex with someone other than her.

In addition to flying off to business meetings in Paris and other assignations, this bourgeois shrew considers herself a diva; singing arias at her soirees, often with a giant stork perched on her shoulder. Sometimes her husband is allowed to attend these gatherings but most times he is not.

Nicolas (Nico Tarielashvili), their oldest son, sneaks into town and works as a dishwasher to break his connection with his rich world. While there he makes friends with some winos, who he brings back to the estate to stay in the wine cellar overnight. While his mother's party goes on upstairs he and his friends enjoy themselves as they drink directly from the wine barrels. The father becomes a friend with one of the hobos (Amiran Amiranashvili), which leads to major changes in the lives of both men.

In town a handsome waiter, Gaston (Philippe Bas), lives in a closet in a rundown building next to where the winos squat. He pretends to be someone he is not, as most characters in this farce do, as he borrows a motorcycle to pick up women. To extend his charade he has one good outfit, complete with a sports jacket, to belie his poor condition. One of the women he attempts to sleep with, and then leaves by the roadside, is Paulette (Stephanie Hainque), the daughter of the owner of a prosperous bar. He has another lover whom he tells that he lives on a luxurious boat as part of his scheme to make love with her. Nicolas falls in love with Paulette, while he remains oblivious to the affection that Valerie has for him. But Paulette seems to accept the derisive relationship with Gaston, once he promises to "be good." Good at what soon becomes apparent.

Various characters in the film come into contact with one another, though not in the traditional ways films like Magnolia or Pulp Fiction where something major must happen. In this case, it's just life going on. Things do happen, but not always with high drama. Some people do change, dramatically, seeming to become comfortable in their own skin. This is so much like real life that some will find it interesting and others will ask, "what happened?"

Tell Me More About It: A friend of mine said that appreciating the work of director Otar Iosseliani is an acquired taste. That is not meant as anything negative, but rather that it's best to know something about the director and the type of work he does before you see the film. At a minimum, if you are not familiar with the work, read a review. That will help you follow this slice of life film, which unfolds at a leisurely pace over a period of close to two hours.

Some people's paths in life are not just shaped by chance, but by the lack of will power to choose a direction. Others take a look at where they are and decide to not only put their hands on the steering wheel, but to grip it tightly so that it is they, more so than others, who control it.