Vous aimerez ma mère

Duke, Harris, and Thomas are well worth watching for their understated performances in this moody character study. Director Johnson elicited a range of nuances and power from Duke that no other director has been able to achieve. Harris is spellbinding as a woman for whom bitterness is a highball and acrimony is champagne.

"You'll Like My Mother" has Patty Duke as Francesca, a pregnant widow who travels from California to the snowy backwoods of Minnesota in the dead of winter to meet her mother-in-law. She gets more than she bargained for however, and finds herself not only stranded there, but in great danger.

One of many seemingly forgotten horror-thriller offerings from the early seventies, this inconspicuously-titled chiller is severely underprivileged in terms of audience, to the point that it's been mistakenly labeled as a television film (it wasn't). Its snowy backwoods setting is phenomenal, and the film reaps a chilling and claustrophobic atmosphere from it throughout. Adding to the ambiance is the main setting—a secluded, ornate manor house—which acts as an oppressive force in and of itself, concealing family secrets as well as housing key scenes in the film.

The film sets it self up for sinister happenings from the outset, with Patty Duke innocuously asking her bus driver about her husband's family. "Kinsolving?" he asks, as if he believes her to be mistaken. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I know the Kinsolvings," he unconvincingly adds. It's minor, subtle moments like these—many of which are found in Duke's and Rosemary Murphy's performances—that make the film so unnerving. The audience knows something's not quite right from minute one, and the film is an exercise in ratcheting atmosphere and tension from there on out. Duke is likable as the doe-eyed, well-meaning widow, and Murphy is ice-cold as her unreceptive (among other things) mother-in-law. The increasing tension between the two actresses is nearly palpable.

Overall, "You'll Like My Mother" is an under-seen thriller marked by solid performances, eerie use of landscape and cinematography, and a consistently suspenseful plot. A worthwhile effort, and one of the better (and more unusual) snowbound horror films to come of the late twentieth century. 9/10.

Filmed in the woods of Minnesota this thriller is scary and exciting! Patty Duke delivers a great performance but is at times outshined by newcomer Sian Barbara Allen! Sort of bloody at times! Richard Thomas in a rare performance as a physcho! Excellent film to watch on a cold winter night!

Despite what a few other reviewers have noted, this movie was a. Not a made for TV "movie of the week" and b. Not filmed in the "woods of Minnesota". The Glensheen Mansion is in the eastern part of Duluth, nestled in amongst other mansions built around the turn of the last century by the "robber barons" who made their fortunes in lumber, railroads or other enterprises of the times.

I happened to be in St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth when this movie was filmed in early 1972 and we had a celebrity guest on our floor at the time. Every morning an entourage would parade down the hall to visit Patty Duke, to include her dog and numerous hangers-on. Patty Duke was hospitalized at the same time for a "nervous condition". Read her bio and you will understand what that means in English.

The movie was OK, but a real treat for people who knew about the mansion because that was long before it became open to the public. The movie was made about five years before Mrs Congdon and her night nurse were savagely murdered. That event could also have made for a very interesting movie itself.

Patty Duke is lovely and appealing as Francesca Kinsolving, a very pregnant young woman whose husband Matthew was killed in Vietnam. She makes the journey from L.A. to snowbound Minnesota, where the Kinsolving family homestead is. She's hoping to make some sort of connection with Matthews' mother, about whom he spoke so highly. But when she gets to the estate, the mother (Rosemary Murphy) turns out to be an odd duck, and a forbidding character. What's more, this woman has a daughter, Kathleen (the memorable Sian Barbara Allen), who has her own problems. Francesca realizes that she's not welcome there, but becomes a prisoner anyway when bad weather prevents her from leaving.

It's understandable that people might think that this was a made-for-TV affair, but in truth it *did* play in theatres. The director is Lamont Johnson, who had lots of television credits, but did a couple of theatrical features as well. He gives this decent story (script by Jo Heims, based on the novel by Naomi A. Hintze) some respectable suspense, and utilizes the real life Glensheen Historic Estate to great effect. The wintry atmosphere also helps a lot. Refreshingly, although Hintzes' tale has some twists to it, it's not overly complicated, and it's surprisingly absorbing, doing a good job of keeping the viewers' attention.

Another heavy asset is Dukes' character. She's vulnerable, but she's not a dummy, and realizes early on that she would be better off leaving if possible. You do sympathize with her and feel a certain suspicion towards Mrs. Kinsolving, who is played with effective frostiness by Ms. Murphy. Allen likewise does a very creditable job. Richard "John-Boy Walton" Thomas has fun with his cocky and creepy character, who's not given a proper introduction until well into the picture. And Robert Redford lookalike Dennis Rucker is likable in his small part as friendly bus driver Red Cooper.

The music by Gil Melle is on occasion a little unusual, but it works. And the cinematography by Jack A. Marta is excellent.

Only the conclusion fails to be particularly satisfying.

Seven out of 10.