In 2007,Christine Carrière made one of the most depressive films of the last decade: "Darling" .
Eight years later ,the director is almost as pessimistic: her heroine has seen it all before :she wishes she had no son .Their first scene shows that the relationship with Guillaume has reached a dead end.She speaks,he acts as though she 's not here ,she's a piece of furniture ,and he's more interested in the pet(?) iguana : when he deigns to look at her,he just mumbles .
Marie,played with remarkable restraint by Mathilde Seignier tries and tries,but her fight is already lost ;she feeds Guillaume,she tries to find him a job, she shows him that she's not that much old ,she tries to be nice with his girlfriend ,she sometimes even takes care of a little girl who is not hers .A woman is not a saint and when he threatens her with a gun ,how can she cope with that?And however she does not consider herself defeated ,and one of the last scenes shows her helping her son write a covering letter,just before he leaves again with his pals (with whom he may or may not have run over and killed a father of four.)
Guillaume is considered a deficient teenager by the shrinks and the psychologists ;he may appear selfish and brutal;but he has a sensitive side,he 's a tormented soul : he feels guilt of his girlfriend 's disease whereas there's nothing of the sort ,he tries to draw closer to his grandma ;and Pierre, his mom 's ex-companion is not really a man to pattern yourself upon .
Almost all the scenes are filmed in darkness;the only long conversation between Marie and Pierre deals with death ;and if it were not enough,when Guillaume is asked about his possible occupation ,he immediately answers:"undertaker,there's no unemployment " .Even the birthday celebration is sad .
Christine Carrière dedicated her movie to her own mom .
Like "Darling " ,as French movies specialist Philippe Guenot wrote ,it's not a movie for all tastes ;but in the "feel good"" tendency of the present French scene ,it's good to show the other side of the mirror.
Minor quibble:why not a song in French over the final cast and credits?
