Aime ton père

This movie is an extremely gripping story of family relations involving a famous father. Both Depardieus are wonderful but I was blown away by the performance of Sylvie Testud. She riveted me every moment that she was on the screen. The story focuses on Leo Shepherd (Gérard Depardieu)a famous writer on the verge of winning a Nobel prize and examines what life is like for those in the family where the father is the focus of international attention and adoration. Other family members are left to identify themselves relative to the father. While the focus of the film is on a famous father, the power children give their parents makes many of this film's story lines relevant to all.

A Loving Father is a difficult movie to watch for obvious reasons. While in most of their movies together, father and son Gérard and Guillaume Depardieu play older and younger versions of each other, in this movie they play a father and son with a bad relationship. At the time of its release, it might have been worth it to see good acting and hope the characters onscreen, a successful father and a son who can't measure up, could help them reconcile their relationship offscreen. Now, it's very sad to watch, if you're able to get through it. It just hits a little too close to home, as hurt and frustration radiates off both of them constantly.

Gérard is a Nobel Prize recipient who gets involved in a motorcycle accident while on the way to Stockholm. His estranged son discovers the accident and, after calling the French equivalent of 911, tucks his dad into his car and drives away. They hear on the radio that Gérard's wallet was discovered and he's presumed dead, and Guillaume takes advantage of the opportunity to have a father-son chat and hopefully fix their issues.

See what I mean about not being able to get through the movie? If you were able to watch Whitney Houston in Sparkle, I guess you'll be able to watch the Depardieus in A Loving Father. Just keep in mind that it's very sad. There are some other scenes with Sylvie Testud, Gérard's daughter, who has her own anger issues about her brother and her father, so you will have a break from time to time. If you don't even know what I'm talking about, then you'll be fine and you'll see some very good acting.

The high level of acting and the intensity of the performances raised the overall quality of the film. Though aspects of the film may have been somewhat unrealistic,it was certainly true to itself. I also believe that it just as easily relates to any father/son relationship (where there is an inability to get past ones self and their own feelings)as it does to a famous father/son relationship. As one of the other people who issued a comment "that the film was only a form of therapy for the director" I would say that almost any work of art that is deeply felt is in a sense a form of therapy for the artist. Hopefully the therapy helped. I certainly enjoyed it.

In the country of France, the writer Leo Shepherd (Gérard Depardieu) lives with his daughter Virginia (Sylvie Testud), who organizes his life. When the Swedish Academy awards Leo with the Nobel Prize for Literature, his son Paul (Guillaume Depardieu) unsuccessfully tries to contact him by phone, but Virginia does not allow Paul to talk to his father. Leo decides to go to Stockholm driving his motorcycle, and Paul follows him by car trying to speak with Leo. While trying to escape from Paul, Leo evolves in an accident on the road with another bike, a car and a truck and Paul kidnaps his slightly injured father. The police commit a mistake in the identification of one of the victims of the accident and announce the death of Leo. Meanwhile, Paul forces his father to listen to him, and along their conversation, a resentful relationship from both sides is disclosed.

"Aime Ton Père" is a deceptive movie about the relationship of a dysfunctional family that goes nowhere. The unpleasant and pointless story begins with a terrible development of characters, and it seems that Virginia is married with the black-haired guy (probably Arthur) and has an affair with the strong guy. The troubled relationship of Paul and Leo has accusations, resentments and pain but there is no final message. Further, there is no explanation why Leo has not written for three years. The conclusion of this empty story is absolutely disappointing. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Meu Pai, Meu Filho" ("My Father, My Son")

This piece can hardly be regarded as movie: some aspects suggests it is intended to be one (actors, story, materials used etc.), but actually it is self-therapy effort for director Jacob Berger, whose father was John Berger well known English writer. It seems that the father figure (or at lest his artistic success) suppressed the talent of his son, and he wanted to release himself from this pressure by talking about it. But alas he used movie as a medium instead of visiting a psychiatrist: his problem remains personal, we can not relate to it. As a movie it is very poor, full of improbabilities, primitive psychology, and one-dimensional characters. I do not think anyone can profit from seeing this movie. One from twenty-five stars.