La daronne

Whether you call it La daronne, Mamma Weed or The Godmother, Jean-Paul Salomé's screen adaption of Hannelore Cayre's award winning novel is a sight to behold. At times satirical, sometimes serious, a romp as ridiculous as it is romantic, La daronne has created a film about liars that is at all times honest. A true genre bending experience that defies tonal expectations and seems deeply intent on sending its message to all watchers, whether they want it or not. A message as heart-warming as it is controversial. We are all just people.

At its core, this film is a crime thriller, following the exploits of a police interpreter who comes from a family of drug runners, being given the opportunity and choosing to break bad. It runs through all the noir and dramatic tropes. A by the number's cops and robber's tale, with doomed romances and violent standoffs abound. What makes The Godmother unique is that while it uses every cliches in the book, it subverts every one of them. Showing a truly honest reflection of reality, viewers are treated to the rarely seen truth behind the criminal mythos. No one really knows what they are doing. The police aren't just relentless machines of justice, hunting down their hapless prey, they are regular old people, just doing a job and trying to help. Drug runners aren't violent perverts, they are often just kids trying to get by. Even those higher up on the chain don't sit around a warehouse smoking cigars and plotting evil. They take care of their families and hang out with their friends. They run a business the same way any regional manager does. Even our protagonist (Expertly played by Isabelle Huppert), for all that she runs circles around the police, keeps the gangs in line, and makes herself into a criminal boss to be feared, she is just a middle-aged mother, trying to keep my family together and deal with the same life struggles as everyone else.

Jean-Paul Salomé is unafraid to let each situation play out with brutal honesty. He lets interactions become awkward and strained. Romantic gestures go unnoticed and miscommunication runs rampart. There are no seamless handovers, each side walking away without counting the money. There is no honour among thieves and super geniuses don't hang around dark alleys selling weed. The crime is still crime, people get hurt and their actions are inexcusable, but that doesn't mean they aren't understandable. The Godmother walks the tightrope of showing each side of the law, warts and all, without glorifying or vilifying either. There are no heroes or villains in this story, just police and criminals, going about their lives, trying to get though the day.

There are many who take offense to the idea that the people in jail are just as human and relatable as them. Those people are unlikely to enjoy Rialto Distribution's latest offering. For everyone else, or even just those willing to go in with an open mind, The Godmother is a funny, sad, ridiculous look at realism, and well worth your time.

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the movie! I thought the plot was fresh and unique, and Izabelle Ruppert was magnificent. Considering she was 66 at the time of filming, she also looks amazing!

Now about what have not worked for me in this movie. At the beginning, the movie presented us with moral philosophical dilemmas, and as I started to become emotionally involved with the characters, it made a 180 degree turn and became a comedy. Don't get me wrong, I love comedies, and there were some really funny moments where I laughed out loud, but I honestly struggled the whole movie and with how to perceive it, as a comedy or as a crime thriller. I definitely could not relate to the main character anymore and really could not root for her. Honestly, at the end I was rooting against the mama weed hoping the logic/simple deduction would prevail.

Other things that bothered me are the plot holes that made police look really really stupid and drug dealers naive and funny! Because of that, you could not really call this movie a crime thriller, even though there were all the ingredients for it. In other words, there were no thrilling moments to make me sit at the edge of my seat and bite my nails. As soon as there were some signs for it, scenes were turned into a joke. Again, this was due to the problem of mixing the jenres. It would have been better if the movie stayed with the comedy crime theme without involving very poignant and serious moments.

The movie has touched many important topics, including relationships with elderly parents, immigrants trying to survive to have a better live in a new country, but I almost felt like there could have been two movies made out of this one. See it for yourself!

My Review- The Godmother, or La Daronne, or Mama Weed My Rating 8/10 This very entertaining French film amazingly wasn't even considered in submissions for Best International Feature movie and as far as I'm concerned it's far superior than the winning Oscar movie from Denmark "Another Round." It may sound an odd description in describing La Daronne or "Mama Weed "as an elegant ,touching, and humorous film about a glamorous drug dealer but that's what it really is .

The wonderful and still beautiful French Actress Isabelle Huppert who was nominated for an Oscar in 2017 ( becoming one of only 7 actresses to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for a French Speaking role) for Elle stars as Patience Portefeux an underpaid, overworked French-Arabic translator in charge of phone surveillance for a narcotics police unit uses her insider knowledge and police resources to build her own crime network.

The film script of The Godmother is written by Hannelore Cayre, the author of the original novel, La Daronne, which took out the 'Quais du Polar', a prize awarded annually to the best crime or thriller novel by a European author in French or a French translation.

It's skilfully directed by Jean Paul Salomé and has a great supporting cast including Hippolyte Girardot as the Police Chief in charge of trying to apprehend Mama Weed who is much closer to him than he really thinks . Also a lovely performance by Liliane Rovére as Mme Portefeux the mother of Patience who is in aged care .

There's a cute local reference in the film when Patience is describing a photo on her wall to Sydney in this film about our New Year Fireworks Celebrations , which shows how famous our annual New Year Celebration is.

This is a very entertaining film and well worth a look I especially loved the Christmas display at Galeries Lafayette where Mama Weed and her 2 daughters "go shopping with her mother."

Isabelle Huppert - just the name alone should be enough for some to not even think twice about how they will feel about this movie. And she is really getting it - well done. Now morally speaking there are things that will be going on, that not everyone will agree with. Maybe that is the wrong way of putting it. But you'll know what I mean when you see the movie (or even the trailer I assume).

The movie is very well thought of and is quite the entertaining ride - while the subject matter is serious and there are certain scenes that are on the violent side - overall the tone is that of a comedy. Acting overall is top notch, there are certain things that may feel like an easy way out (problems that almost literally disappear to a degree) ... and the ending is something that while nice, is nothing that is as amazing or gives the movie an extra push ... but maybe that is nitpicking. Just enjoy the thriller ride with a lot of laughs (and still some social message hidden in there)

Nothing works in this movie. The scenario is bad, really bad. And again Isabelle Huppert is not doing well to make it better. Save your time, do watch it!