Ma mère est folle

Parts of it look like 8, other like 4. A great actress, Fanny Ardent, a great start, and then the whole (p)lot gets lost. Actually, personally, reminds me of Kinski and Herzog in South America. Kinski keen on acting, and Herzog without any clear concept. But back to this one: likewise. A great idea, the road movie of an ageing though attractive woman who can't get a grip on reality. Quite funny in the beginning, with the bailiff and his son 'en stage', trying hard to convince her that she has to pony up. Somehow in vain.

One would love to see movies like e.g. Bunuel did: A clear concept from start to end. And not just hitting the road with a great idea, and hoping that things will pan out, one way or another. Like here: glued to the screen from the beginning. And gradually clutching the armchair; thinking one has to help out to set the whole thing back on track. Funny stuff popping up, the road scene with the sanglier, the bathtub scene, and some more.

Like Natalie Baye ,like a good wine ,Fanny Ardant gets better as she gets older ;and she does not always take the easy way :in "8 femmes" ,she played a lesbian (who kissed Catherine Deneuve) ,in "lola Pater " ,she portrayed a transsexual .....

Here she passes for "crazy " because she wants to live off the beaten track;but the first scene with the bailiff shows a woman who cannot follow the society's rules .

A woman full of contradictions,she has never really taken care of her son ,but without a moment's hesitation ,she adopts an abandoned child and heads for the Netherlands to broach drug-trafficking.

There are plenty of funny moments in the first half :Nina buying her illegal stuff , mistaking Rotterdam for Amsterdam (yes, it's Anne Frank's house!) , the meeting with the cops on the road (the wild boar and the vervain)....

Essentially a road movie,for Nina hits the road with her son (whose girlfriend she calls "the big fat Dutch cow") ,her protégé and a cat ),and along the way the comedy turns into drama....Not always for the best ,for Diane Kurys 's movie loses steam halfway through and sometimes falls into what the French call "théâtre de boulevard" and clichés (Alvaro ,Nina 's erstwhile lover turned gay , who may (or may not) be her son's biological dad).

But ,in spite of weaknesses in the screenplay ,Fanny Ardant is so irresistible she will win you over.