Ma mère (2004)

Just perfect...

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Pros: Daring, intriguing, intelligent Cons: Not for everyone The Bottom Line: A refreshing take on freedom of action.So what can be said about this movie? It is at face value, very sexual and somewhat perverse. However, once having sit through it, it is evident that the abundance of sex scenes and situations all serve the unconventional coming-of-age story. In fact, even though the scenes are more graphic than average, they are much more natural and realistic than an overwhelmingly unimaginative traditional treatment of "the love scene" . That said, those who are not comfortable seeing nudity and sex on screen (or who are, but say would like to be warned before renting this and watching it with your in-laws) should be advised. More than the sex, there is the freedom. A different freedom than say the antisocial libertinism of Lars Van Trier's Idiots, inasmuch as that it is more thoughtful and mature. It is a conscious choice to explore deep desires and to live a life unafraid and non-accepting of personal and societal self-imposed boundaries. In that, the film succeeds wonderfully, woes you, open doors, set the stage for interesting reflections, and is bound to spark up dialogue by laying the foundation to ask the tough questions. That said, the plot is almost an afterthought as the philosophical content is the resonating factor here. The sparking idea is that a boy is confronted with the fact that his mother is a self-proclaimed slut. A plot construction reminiscent of Kevin smith's Chasing Amy so far, yet the focus is not on accepting one's past here. Not only is the son suppose to accept and love her for who she is, he is also to embark in a eye-opening motherly exposition to this life of saturated senses, openness and constant exploration. A bond between the son and mother is formed and various characters come in and out of the boy's life, including Hansi, played precariously by beautiful Emma de Caunes. All the character's are interesting in their own way and bring other dimensions to the "alternate lifestyle" revealed. Based on George Bataille's work written decades earlier, but put in the context of the new millennium, the film adaptation serves as a sort of compass to examine how far along we have gone in our sexual emancipation as a society. The acting is superb, especially from an assured Isabelle Huppert and the director's vision shows in the consistency of his actors performances to support his thematic goals. The recurring music is a soft, barely audible Barber's Adagio for Strings, as Pierre, the son, contemplates life in the sand dunes of the Canary Islands. The pacing is good, as the movie builds momentum and the ending is very fitting for a film that is not afraid to tell its story. Strange, but not over-the-top. Frighteningly and enchantingly real. The film is always, like its characters, somewhere between imaginary boundaries. The DVD has a deleted scene, a less poignant alternative ending that I was glad was edited to the final cut and two excellent interviews with the insightful writer/director Christophe Honoré and a wide-eyed Emma de Caunes. To watch with your mother (or not).

This film left me in a state of shock. The film-makers may see that as a positive statement - that their film gave the desired effect of evoking extreme emotion. Unfortunately, the shock was due to how bad the film was. It goes without saying that the subject material is designed to be challenging: a teenage boy and his mother's incestuous relationship. This alone would be enough for many people to dislike the film. But let me say that I am very open when it comes to watching challenging films. I thought that "Spanking the monkey" (which focuses also on son/mother incest) was excellent, since it portrays the action in a way that blends serious emotional issues with very (black) black humour while giving good characterisation. "My mother" does none of this. It treats the incest as salacious, but with no way of allowing viewers to identify with the characters or try to understand their issues. What made this film bad is the total lack of realism. I am not talking about how unlikely it would be for people to do certain things, because although incest is rare, it does still exist. I am referring to the lack of realism regarding the characters, their actions and the script that they are forced to spill out. Throughout the whole movie I found myself saying "That's daft"/"They'd never do that"/"This is stupid" with almost every scene, to the point that it ended up being almost amusing, and yet "amusing" is the polar opposite of what this film is trying to impart.Spoilers!!!!!!!So, what is daft? The son finds some of his father's porno magazines, and decides to strew them all over the floor and then masturbate and urinate on them. The son has a loving relationship with the live-in servants, but he decides to kick them out of the house on a "hilarious" whim when he is drunk. She servants don't question it at all. Neither does the mother (whose house it is). We never hear from them again. A pretty young girl watches the son rape his mothers friend while he gazes at his mother, and yet she then falls in love with him. A final sex scene involves the mother cutting her own abdomen with a knife while the son smears his hand in it and masturbates. The final scene of the movie involves the son visiting the dead body of his mother and quickly begins masturbating over the casket.While none of the characters were by any means "normal", their general behaviour and backgrounds gave no reasoning for this ridiculous set of actions, which you end up watching with total disbelief. Some reviews have mentioned the good acting of Isabelle Huppert. I think she acted as well as she could have done under the circumstances. But it reminds me of the saying "You can't polish a turd!". If you want to watch a challenging movie, watch "Spanking the monkey". If you want to waste two hours of your life, watch "My Mother".

As someone who has watched 1000's of films and actually likes foreign films, this was one of the most whacked-out movies I have ever watched. I fully appreciate that the subject matter is unconventional, and that people who get into such weird mental places do not have pedestrial social behavior. Also, most French films tend to take on unusualy subject manner and are much more direct in approach than US films when it comes to sex and sexuality. However, I feel like I was being thrown against a wall with one morally disgusting scene after another. I suppose it doesn't help when you instantly hate the main character, wonder if any of the adults act like adults (much less who isn't sexually overcharged), wonder why none of the teens have any common sense, and it just keeps going. You gain sympathy for certain characters and you realize the reason none of the adults act like adults is because...well..they have real problems. I will say it is beautifully shot and the direction just adds to the intensity, but thats about I can come up with in terms of redeeming qualities in what is one big mess!

I enjoyed the film so much I read the book. The book itself is unfinished and has two snippets at the very end that are disconnected from the rest of the work. It must have been very difficult to write a feature-length screenplay from this book. Not only is the book relatively short (200 pages about the size of a standard paperback with relatively large type), but there's very little "action." The book is all from Pierre's point of view, obviously (the title Ma Mère means My Mother), and it's mostly what he thinks about situations. The only characters in the book are the father, Pierre, Hélène, Réa, Hansi, and Loulou. (The grandparents are mentioned, just as they are in the film.) While the book addresses homosexuality, it only looks at the lesbian side of things because in the book Loulou is a woman. Nearly all the book content made it into the film, but there's much of the film that isn't part of the novel.