Un mauvais fils

This film has a beautiful density. Dramatic density, with each of the characters who are human beings, not clichés or stereotypes. Each one of them contributes to this story, simple, but rich, dense, where family, friends, lovers contribute to produce a beautiful drama. Patrick Dewaere returns from prison in the USA; he finds his father, Yves Robert, who could give the title of "a bad father" to the film, even if we understand him. The police help Patrick Dewaere to reintegrate. He then crosses the path of Brigitte Fossey (very good performance), also in rehabilitation following his drug addiction. He also meets Jacques Dufilho, who will help him to reintegrate.

The film could be called a beautiful story, with beautiful characters, poignant at times, but gripping, which accepts that everyone has good sides, or weaknesses, and are able to overcome them, or not. The script also mixes, without condescension or judgment, the universe of the father, a public works worker, and the employer for the reintegration, Jacques Dufilho, who is a bookseller and music lover. These worlds are articulated through the character of Patrick Dewaere.

In its kind, a perfect film, which does not leave indifferent, which knots the stomach of the spectator.

It is not a film to be explained, it is a film to be lived! It goes straight to the heart, simply to the essential. Exceptional in truth and authenticity with a great casting of exceptionnal actors. Wonderful!

This is one of the more effective films by Sautet, a director who made commercial pictures with Romy Schneider all through the 70's. While I admired the artistry of Les choses de la vie and Cesar et Rosalie, I was a little put off by the rich decors and bourgeois sentiments. Un mauvais fils is a look at blue collar workers--Rene Calgagni is the foreman on a construction site, his son Bruno works first in trucking, then as a furniture maker, then in a bookstore. Madeleine, Rene's girlfriend runs a dry cleaning shop. Bruno is trying to remake his life after the prison sentence, and the difficulties of re-insertion into society are well-described by Sautet.

Patrick Dewaere gives a restrained performance, lacking most of the extraverted action that made Series noire and La meilleure facon de marcher so memorable. Yves Robert, despite the mustache that reminds us of Stalin, is very affecting as the severe father who doesn't know what to do with his errant son. Jacques Dufilho, playing a gay bookseller with many whimsical moments, earned the Cesar award for best supporting actor. Brigitte Fossey, playing a heroin addict who can't quite stay away from the drug even as she becomes involved with Bruno, has some fine scenes.

If Claude Sautet is most known for his films about middle class, he signs there an excellent movie about the father-son relationship, both belonging to the working class. Patrick Dewaere is the "bad" son, returning home from the US and prison, with a drug addict and trafficker past. He's great, just right the whole movie. As always, I'm tempted to say. Yves Robert, the father, is a discovery for me as an actor and a good surprise. I knew him merely as director - he directed a handful of popular success. His play was at Dewaere's height and scenes with both of us together a real delight. The supporting roles, with Brigitte Fossey and Jacques Durilho, are also very good and give us some of the nicest scenes (the opera!).

The movie in itself stays a classic Sautet if I can say, even in this different settings, letting place to the characters, time to take its course. Showing the simple things of life. Kindliness for his characters. Caring for the little details. I don't know if this is because he is focused on this relationship and not on the description of a certain world, or if this is because he films a social background he knows less and with a generation that is not his, but it works really well, better than most of his middle-class movies.

If the misunderstanding between father and son is the motor of the movie, everyone knowing them, including the spectator, can only witness how similar they are but never at the same wavelength. Sautet adds nice secondary plots and manages a beautiful movie until a wonderful ending.

This is one of the most beautiful movies I have seen in a long time. In fact, the credit of finding it goes to late Patrick Dewaere whose film "Going Places" made me such a big fan of his that I set out to watch all his great works. This is among his best. Indeed, French movies carry something that goes straight to the heart transcending all borders and boundaries. This saga of father son relationship is told with such relaxed pace without dramatizing the situations. Both father and the son are humans who love each other and care for each other, yet unable to come to terms with their own demons. It's strange why that great actor like Patrick Dewaere despite living a short life left behind a volume of exemplary performances has not been awarded his due place amongst the greatest stars of the world. I give this film 9 out of 10