The fact that this film is called The Father of My Children is a bit mysterious to me. Such a title would suggest the film is about a woman looking at her husband from her point of view. What this film is, really, is two separate films awkwardly joined together, with only one half sorta from the perspective of the woman. The misleading title is only part of this film's problems.
Gregoire is a Parisian independent film producer who is working on several projects at once. His business is running on fumes as he is having trouble finding money to make all the projects he wants to make. A few of the films that have already started are running well over budget and he has to make it all work and keep his directors and investors happy. He has a close-knit family, a loving wife and clever teenage daughter, along with a few younger kids as well. When the money gets too difficult, he suddenly commits suicide, leaving his wife to settle his debts, finish as many projects as possible and close up his company.
The script here is quite a mess, I think. There are basically two halves of the story, the part before Gregoire kills himself and the part after. There is basically no connection between one and the other aside from the fact that they both have something to do with movies and share several characters. The first part of the story is actually pretty smooth and interesting, seeing how he gets movies made. I guess the intrigue in the second half is that the wife realizes her husband kept bad accounts and was more of a loser than she thought (despite a very successful run of strong movies he made). It isn't really all that interesting, the way it's presented. That Gregoire is the father of his wife's children is utterly irrelevant to the second part (maybe I'm being too literal).
I guess the acting is good throughout, especially Gregoire's daughter, played by Alice de Lencquesaing, who is a clever young woman who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. Her role is a bit dumb, I think, and more central in the narrative of the second-half than is necessary. Still, it's nice to see a talented new young star (she was also in the French family drama Summer Hours last year, playing a 13-year-old girl who smokes... hey - it's France!).
Writer/director Mia Hansen-Love took this story from the true events of a Parisian producer who recently committed suicide and left many questions about why he did it. I think she lost the thread, though, or at least didn't come about it in the right way. I think a more even plot, where the characters and story were more balanced between acts would have done a lot to help this film. Instead we get two movies that don't really have anything to do with one another and don't really tell a full story by themselves.
Stars: 1.5 of 4
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment