Christian Pros: Daring, intriguing, intelligent Cons: Not for everyone The Bottom Line: A refreshing take on freedom of action.So what can be said about this movie? It is at face value, very sexual and somewhat perverse. However, once having sit through it, it is evident that the abundance of sex scenes and situations all serve the unconventional coming-of-age story. In fact, even though the scenes are more graphic than average, they are much more natural and realistic than an overwhelmingly unimaginative traditional treatment of "the love scene" . That said, those who are not comfortable seeing nudity and sex on screen (or who are, but say would like to be warned before renting this and watching it with your in-laws) should be advised. More than the sex, there is the freedom. A different freedom than say the antisocial libertinism of Lars Van Trier's Idiots, inasmuch as that it is more thoughtful and mature. It is a conscious choice to explore deep desires and to live a life unafraid and non-accepting of personal and societal self-imposed boundaries. In that, the film succeeds wonderfully, woes you, open doors, set the stage for interesting reflections, and is bound to spark up dialogue by laying the foundation to ask the tough questions. That said, the plot is almost an afterthought as the philosophical content is the resonating factor here. The sparking idea is that a boy is confronted with the fact that his mother is a self-proclaimed slut. A plot construction reminiscent of Kevin smith's Chasing Amy so far, yet the focus is not on accepting one's past here. Not only is the son suppose to accept and love her for who she is, he is also to embark in a eye-opening motherly exposition to this life of saturated senses, openness and constant exploration. A bond between the son and mother is formed and various characters come in and out of the boy's life, including Hansi, played precariously by beautiful Emma de Caunes. All the character's are interesting in their own way and bring other dimensions to the "alternate lifestyle" revealed. Based on George Bataille's work written decades earlier, but put in the context of the new millennium, the film adaptation serves as a sort of compass to examine how far along we have gone in our sexual emancipation as a society. The acting is superb, especially from an assured Isabelle Huppert and the director's vision shows in the consistency of his actors performances to support his thematic goals. The recurring music is a soft, barely audible Barber's Adagio for Strings, as Pierre, the son, contemplates life in the sand dunes of the Canary Islands. The pacing is good, as the movie builds momentum and the ending is very fitting for a film that is not afraid to tell its story. Strange, but not over-the-top. Frighteningly and enchantingly real. The film is always, like its characters, somewhere between imaginary boundaries. The DVD has a deleted scene, a less poignant alternative ending that I was glad was edited to the final cut and two excellent interviews with the insightful writer/director Christophe Honoré and a wide-eyed Emma de Caunes. To watch with your mother (or not).

pauliebleeker Usually the French are much better at tackling "taboo" subjects, but the way this film was done was AWFUL. I appreciate the works of Louis Garrel and Isabelle Huppert, which was the only draw for me to watch Ma Mère. I hadn't read the book the film was adapted from, but the hype was too much to ignore so I watched it. BAD CHOICE. Louis Garrel was decent, as decent as he could be in such an awful film. Isabelle Huppert's performance was not her best, a lot of long pauses and dramatic painful-staring-off-into-the-world stares that just got annoying after awhile. The film did a bad job at establishing the characters. At some parts, I felt as if the characters did things for no reason without ever providing much background to why they act that way and other characters just felt really unnecessary to the story. You leave the film feeling like you don't understand any of the characters, why they do the things they do, even worse you leave not feeling a single emotion of sympathy or hate or ANYTHING for the characters. I also found myself lost at a few parts due to two reasons. 1.) The way the movie was filmed was very distracting, as if someone with a hand-held home video camera kept zooming in and out of the actors faces and 2.) some shots were very dark which made it difficult to understand what was going on (especially at the end). I felt like the film strayed a bit from actually telling an unique story, and became more about nude shots and unusual sex scenes to seem more "daring" and "edgy." I didn't feel like I took anything from the film, or the point of the film. If you want to watch a good Christophe Honoré film, I would advise you to skip this and pick up Les Chansons d'Amour starring Garrel as well.

stevekadar As someone who has watched 1000's of films and actually likes foreign films, this was one of the most whacked-out movies I have ever watched. I fully appreciate that the subject matter is unconventional, and that people who get into such weird mental places do not have pedestrial social behavior. Also, most French films tend to take on unusualy subject manner and are much more direct in approach than US films when it comes to sex and sexuality. However, I feel like I was being thrown against a wall with one morally disgusting scene after another. I suppose it doesn't help when you instantly hate the main character, wonder if any of the adults act like adults (much less who isn't sexually overcharged), wonder why none of the teens have any common sense, and it just keeps going. You gain sympathy for certain characters and you realize the reason none of the adults act like adults is because...well..they have real problems. I will say it is beautifully shot and the direction just adds to the intensity, but thats about I can come up with in terms of redeeming qualities in what is one big mess!

Pitumisio This is a movie which I saw two years ago (I am a man) with a woman who suggested we'd watch it while in intimate circumstances. As I do not intend nor feel the need to give details, I will only say I did not see that French girl again. I hardly watched it; just remembered Isabelle Huppert was in the cast.My curiosity -or boredom- was strong last night, and I rented it to see what I'd missed. As I don't understand French I could not even have a gist of what the plot was, but I could last night: a very poor attempt to glamorise perversion and diss catholicism. I am a little bit of a pervert and a feeble religious observant, so I may not be accused of being biased or discriminating European art films.Now I know why I did not feel the need to call her again.