Most of the screenplay consists of meandering and inebriated characters talking just as high-falutin'.
Ma Mere (2005)
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Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:5
Rotten:36
Average Rating:3.7/10
Consensus: Pretentious, overly perverse and dull.
Rated: NC-17 [See Full Rating] for strong and aberrant sexual content.
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:May 13, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: Adapted from the provocative novel by transgressive postmodern intellectual and author Georges Bataille, MA MERE is set in the visually lush and spiritually empty tourist trap of the Canary... Adapted from the provocative novel by transgressive postmodern intellectual and author Georges Bataille, MA MERE is set in the visually lush and spiritually empty tourist trap of the Canary Islands. Louis Garrel, projecting the same European sultriness that was perfectly suited to Bertolucci's more warmly erotic film THE DREAMERS, plays Pierre, a sulking and antisocial teenager, willfully indifferent to being on summer vacation with his parents. When his wayward father suddenly dies, his mother Helene (Isabelle Huppert), forces him into her universe of illicit sex--a simultaneously ugly and playful realm inhabited by Gallic sophisticates engaging in orgies and bondage. Pierre, a devout Catholic, is resistant at first--to the point of Catholic guilt-induced attacks of sobbing and hyperventilation. But after fulfilling experiences with Helene's male and female playmates, Pierre obsessively pursues the sexual attention of his own mother, and a disturbing quest toward consummation of the attraction between mere and fils is undertaken. Star Isabelle Huppert's role as Helene is a perfect follow-up to her award-winning turn in the equally shocking LA PIANISTE, which featured the French fatale engaging in illicit acts with both a young male student and her own controlling, elderly mother. With her just barely constrained and visibly volatile sexual energy, the actress has become known as the "go-to girl" for roles that transcend sexual and social taboos and explore the dark and violent side of erotic desire. Her overpowering presence in MA MERE, as all great performances do, make the viewer wonder just how blurry the boundaries between actress and role have become. [More]
Starring: Louis Garrel, Isabelle Huppert, Francois Montagut, Dominique Reymond
Starring: Louis Garrel, Isabelle Huppert, Francois Montagut, Dominique Reymond
Director: Christophe Honoré
Director: Christophe Honoré
Screenwriter: Christophe Honoré
Studio: TLA Releasing
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Reviews for Ma Mere
...a dispirited affair and often feels like a parody — a decidedly self-serious one — of one of Bertolucci or Pasolini’s boundary-pushing offerings from the ‘70s
Probably isn't for anyone not interested in the darkest corners of the human psyche, where sexual annihilation is the only response to a fallen world, where all moral bets are off, and where a boy's worst friend is his mother.
Glazed-over looks, naked flesh, inane philosophizing, and sand dunes announce that we’re in Antonioni-land, circa Zabriskie Point.
Ma mère could easily be mistaken for the latest anhedonic embarrassment out of Canada
For all the posturing that sexually politicized Americans use to praise the French and their liberating attitudes towards funtime, why is it that their most sexually charged films do their best to sicken rather than explore or educate?
This is a bold and difficult film, examining intensely personal issues and letting us in as voyeurs.
While attempting to be a bold examination of incest, sadomasochism and anality, Honore's adaptation of the Bataille novel instead becomes ludicrous indulgence.
This is one movie I wouldn't want to take my mother to see (or even tell her that I saw).
Garrel's performance here reveals Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers for the featherweight fantasy that it was. Ma Mère may appear grungier on the surface, but its themes run far deeper.
Honore never gets beneath these characters' sunburned skins, and well before the end, the film tips irretrievably over into the realm of absurdity.
Huppert doesn't turn this object d'cypher role into exactly the sort of gay-son-as-Oedipus tribute that Dan Harris flubbed with last year's Imaginary Heroes.
The drab bondage buffs in Ma Mere are so sick of life and sick of each other that we get sick of them way before the mother makes good on her threats and turns her son into her Oedi-pal.
Ma Mere may be ludicrous, but its cast displays a commitment that deserves more than grudging admiration.
It could stand as Exhibit A for why French auteurs are a tough sell to the average seeker of entertainment.
This sexually messy, religiously infused film is a perfect example of the dregs of European cinema.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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