:
Isabelle Huppert,
Isabelle Huppert,
Louis Garrel,
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:
Christophe Honoré,
Christophe Honoré
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: TLA Releasing
: Drama, Foreign, France, Erotica
: 108 min.
: French
: English
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An attractive widow finds her attentions turning to her teenage son in a troubling manner in this drama from France. Pierre (Louis Garrel) is a moody 17-year-old who is spending the summer with his parents at their summer home in the Canary Islands. While Pierre isn't especially close to his father (Philippe Duclos), he enjoys a warm relationship with his mother, Hélène (Isabelle Huppert) -- almost too warm, as her affection for him subtly strains the boundaries of typical familial behavior. When Pierre's father dies unexpectedly in an auto accident, his emotional dependence on Hélène grows, while her desire for her son does the same. Though Pierre finds himself attracted to several girls his own age summering on the island, he finds it increasingly difficult to reconcile his curiosity with the growing sexual tension between mother and son. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| Mom: Oy!
by talltale
October 22, 2005 - 8:05 AM PDT
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9 out of 10 members found this review helpful
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Based on some of the reviews I'd read, I was expecting a load of pretension from MA MERE. Instead I found a quietly horrifying look at a dysfunctional family that makes most other DFs look like small potatoes. The beauty of the location (is this one of the Canary Islands?) and the cast (Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel and Emma de Caunes among them) provide an ironic juxtaposition to the increasingly shocking and destructive goings-on.
The psychology here seems real--even if its beginnings and underpinnings go unexplained--and the performances, writing and direction abet this psychology. As sad and often unappetizing as the movie is, there is enough humanity in the characters (and talent in the actors who play them) to hold you tight and keep you enthralled--if appalled. Say what you will, the film has the courage of its convictions--such as they are--up to and including its artful and sticky end.
Call me a sicko, but I found "Ma Mere" memorable in its way. It will certainly make those of us who come from a dysfunctional family grateful for the comparatively minor dysfunctions with which we had to contend. (But then, as the movie also makes clear, the wealthy are always able to tinker with the more enjoyable, higher-end dysfunctions.) |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.15)
48 Votes
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