Vipère au poing

Nice film for Philippe de Broca. This is his last film. It is not the adventure film or the adventure comedy that made him known and carried him through his career. It is a more intimate film. Between children, between children and parents, between parents, between employees and others. With the qualities of his cinema: a subtle direction of actor, accurate female characters. With at work here the young actors and Catherine Frot.

The film also has a historical and societal interest on the way of life of this provincial bourgeois family, which has its money and personal problems, embodied by Jacques Villeret as an entomologist poltroon and by Catherine Frot as a psychorigid.

A good (but not great) adaptation of André Bazin's autobiographic novel which I urge all the users who saw the movie to read.Philippe de Broca does not feel at home in this gloomy story ,he who shines in comedies or adventures yarn ("Cartouche" "L'homme de Rio" ).And the made-for-TV version is imprinted in my memory as it must be in any French's.It had the definitive Folcoche (Folcoche= Folle Cochonne= Mad Swine):Alice Sapricht was so terrifying that any actress who would take on the part would be fatally compared to her.Catherine Frot does an okay job,but Folcoche was ,is and will always be Alice Sapricht whose ugliness worked wonders.On the other hand,I'm pleased to see that one of the late Villeret's last parts was worthwhile, a thousand miles from the obnoxious "Iznogood" .Good performances also come from English Cherie Lunghi ,Pszoniak and Paul Le Person.

In the French literature ,"Vipère au Poing" recalls "Poil de Carotte".These two books feature the most terrifying mothers who ever were.And they were not invented.Both Bazin's and Jules Renard' moms were respectively Folcoche and Madame Lepic !

... or Every Home Should Have One, with apologies to John Steinbeck whose short story had nothing whatsoever to do with the autobiography of Herve Bazin which is the basis for this fine film. Catherine Frot is cast against type as the mother from hell and at times, especially when shot in extreme close up she actually contrives to LOOK like a snake. If, as I did, you see Frot in Les Soeurs Fachees, within twenty four hours you can't help marveling at her range but more of that when I get to The Angry Sisters. In his formative years Bazin lived with his grandmother because his parents were in Indo China and the film kicks off as the grandmother does and the parents return to France to take care of their two sons. Frot's complete lack of maternal instinct has to be seen to be believed as do her Draconian measures - no heat in the boy's bedroom in winter is only the beginning. It's tempting and easy to think that Frot based her characterization on Margaret Thatcher, there is the same coldness, the same aloof autocracy and it was Thatcher, of course, in her role as Minister for Education who famously discontinued the free school milk that children had enjoyed for years, earning her the well-deserved sobriquet Thatcher The Milk Snatcher. Jacques Villeret, also cast against type offers sterling support as the milquetoast husband but it is young Jules Sitruk, so good in Monsieur Batignole, who weighs in with a wonderfully assured performance as the rebellious son. It's difficult to find fault with anything from the acting to the attention to detail in the period setting. One to see again.

Vipere au poing is one of the classics of French literature. It is studied at school, and I defy any person who starts to read it to finish it unscathed. It is the story of the relentless hate of a mother towards her children. It shows that the aim of her life is to destroy their spirits, to break their wills. And there is no happy ending, she really hates them.To be able to play this "tour de force" you need a first class actress. I admire very much Catherine Frot, but unfortunately for her, I had seen before a first version of this book, filmed for the French television in the 70s, and Mrs Sapritch made this role hers for life, at least for me. It did not stop me from also buying this film in DVD, as it is always interesting to see how two different set of actors, 30 years apart, manage around the same idea. So, my advice is see them both and make your mind up. Regretfully, the 70s version is only available in French and in region 2 (Europe) DVD.

Vipère au poing (2004) (Viper in the Fist) was co-scripted and directed by Philippe de Broca. The story is based on a novel by Hervé Bazin. I saw this movie at the 2005 Cinefranco Film Festival in Toronto. (www.cinefranco.com)

Jean and Freddie are growing up in a château, under the loving care of their paternal grandmother. When she dies, their father returns from Vietnam with their mother and their young brother.

Within minutes, their mother displays her true colors, and within days she's made their life hell. Catherine Frot plays Paule Rézeau, who in a fairy tale would be the evil stepmother. Unfortunately, she's their biological mother, who totally dominates the boys, their father (played well by the late Jacques Villeret), and the entire household.

The chilling nature of this film stems not only from from maternal hatred, but from the fact that the boys are obviously good kids. They are prepared to love their mother and their brother, and to behave in an acceptable--even admirable--fashion.

Unfortunately, their situation leaves no room for maternal-child affection. What develops is open warfare on the mother's side, and guerrilla warfare on the part of the boys. The middle brother, Jean (Jules Sitruk) is particularly dedicated to opposing his mother's tyranny, and he's very good at it.

The movie has scenes that are humorous, and some warm and touching moments between father and sons, but the basic tone is dark and menacing. It's not a warm movie that will leave you with a glow of contentment, but it's well written, directed, and acted, and definitely worth seeing.