Feliz Aniversário

Every family has at least one person that everyone belittles or thinks less of. Sometimes that may not be warranted and may only be so everyone else feels better about themselves. In other instances the family itself may have contributed to the mental state of mind of that one person.

Which is something that may ring true in this movie. We have a daughter that is quite out there and may have lost some marbles as they say. Or did she? Is it only others who try to make her seem crazy? Well I would say overall the movie is pretty clear where it stands ... but it also tells us more, about that character, but also about the other family members and their role ... not all family festivities are fun (I know, good joke, right?)

Grim drama about a dysfunctional family. The acting is very good. The cinematography, music and interiors are very artful. The arts are a recurring theme in this movie as seen in the child play and the movie in the movie. The story centers on the troubled half sisters return after three years absence to the family at the matriarchs birthday. Main themes are money, manipulation and mental illness (bipolar or borderline?). The breakdowns are painful to watch. It's not a feel good movie, maybe therefore the low ratings.

Saw this at the London Film Festival and can't fully describe how ghastly the experience was. A family reunion of a large family that made keeping up with them all difficult. Among them there was the mentally ill sister, patronisingly/grimly portrayed, the balding waster who despite seemingly having no money or purpose in life has a model Argentinian girlfriend - who conveniently provided the gratuitous nudity for the film and a host of others. Catherine Deneuve staggered through it all with an enigmatic look on her face that suggested she knew she was in a dire movie. The plot, such as it was seemed to require that they all did unbelievable things and shouted at each other at full volume from the first frame to the last! Staggered out with a headache - had I been on the end of the row I would have voted with my feet very early on.

Aucune recherche. Des petites mesquineries à la française. Carherine Deneuve n'est vraiment pas à son avantage. Les autres sont de caricatures de beaufs.

If you read between the overplayed and garish lines, an interesting story about guilt, manipulation and family construction appears. You may get tired of the picture while you see it, but afterwards you have something to think of and discuss. Also(!) take a look at the genus theme, which side the women and the men are taking. It's interesting how so different characters see, regardless of the others, the same things because of their gender.