Aime ton père

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.

"A Loving Father" tells of a writer who is en route to pick up his Nobel prize when his trip is interrupted by an estranged son. This road trip flick focuses on the real life father/son Depardieu duo as it meanders through a spotty mire of family dysfunction issues. The sometimes engaging story is fraught with moments of implausibility, a seemingly concocted conclusion, and a trite moral which seems to be "Love your children because payback's a bitch". With good quality in all aspects except story, "A Loving Father" has been largely ignored by the critics and received only a few fringe awards with nominal plaudits from the public. Only for fans of the players or French cinema. (B-)

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")

I am usually not so strict and judgmental in my comments however I must say that, besides being a rather dramatic example of a spoiled father-son relationship, I have found this movie to be long and extremely empty in its plot.

Its cold strokes remind me a lot of Chabrol's "Merci pour le Chocolat", with Isabelle Huppert and Jacques Dutronc. I must say that, although I am a Depardieu's fan in most cases, Aime Ton Pere has left me empty handed at the end of the tape. I can't really say much about Guillame Depardieu, given the movie's lack of plot and spinal cord and the fact that I haven't had a chance to analyze his other performances. I can already say though that he belongs to a different breed of actors than the one Gerard comes from. If you care to see a cold and cynical Depardieu senior in a true quality performance, 36 Quai des Orferves will keep you on your toes.

There were some amazing performances in this movie, as, at times, it delved into interesting material about parenting and relationships with neglectful parents. However, each time when the characters started to dig deeper within themselves to reveal more, the movie interrupted the focus--often into rather irrelevant directions. This is probably because most people with emotional baggage attempt to confront the past but become scared and run from it. Despite this, I still wanted to see much more exploration between the father and son. In addition, I wanted to see more than just a one-dimensional performance by the daughter throughout all but the closing moments of the film (she always seemed intensely and disproportionately angry throughout the film). It was as if the movie was put into production before there was a chance to edit and do re-writes and smooth out all the details--especially the very end of the film that made very little sense. Overall, it's interesting and has moments but could have been better.

By the way, Gerard's real life son plays his son in the movie. He looked an awful lot like a French version of Julian Sands (the somewhat obscure English actor).