Christophe Honoré
France 2004 110min French o.v. English s-t.

The incomparable Isabelle Huppert once again provokes and enthralls us with another vivid character study of a modern woman testing the boundaries of life's pleasures and pain. The great actress/provocateur has come to specialize in tormented, troubled and wildly transgressive women and, just when you think she has gone as far as she can, she takes us even closer to the edge. Arguably more amazing is the number of filmmakers comfortable within Huppert's dangerous, sensual universe: would any modern director pass up the chance to work with her? Christophe Honoré is the latest, and with Ma mère, his adaptation of Georges Bataille's posthumous novel, Huppert adds yet another striking characterization to her singular gallery of screen women. The film is virtually an autopsy of the sexual duality of women as both lovers and mothers. Here, however, the two are daringly intertwined as Huppert embarks on a summer of depravity and sexual experimentation on the sun-kissed Canary Islands with her teenaged son, played by Louis Garrel (Bertolucci's The Dreamers). Coming-of-age movies are a familiar film staple but there hasn't been one quite like Ma mère, which borrows elements from Louis Malle’s 1971 Murmur of the Heart and Huppert’s controversial The Piano Teacher. At once sexually charged, romantic and frightening, Ma mère is another brave journey into dark, uncharted areas of the human soul, guided by one of the screen's great actresses. Better buckle up: as Bette Davis would say, it's going to be one bumpy ride, and memorably so.

Shown on:

tuesday, november 08, 9H30 PM parisien 6 - pgm39 (Ma mère)

thursday, november 10, 7H00 PM parisien 2 - pgm54 (Ma mère)