29/09/2006

Having passed the halfway point of the 54th San Sebastian Film Festival, we are in need of a profound, radical shake-up.

Thus comes My Son [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Mon fils à moi) by Martial Fougeron, another film on family, in keeping with this year’s festival theme, which pervades the screen and cinema with maternal love to the point of suffocation.

The first 10 minutes of the film – full of constant and morbid hugs, attention and contact – between a mother (Nathalie Baye) and son (Victor Sevaux) are enough to convey a sense of nausea that turns into claustrophobia and a longing to explode as the film progresses. It is truly difficult to believe that this is a debut film.

The screenplay, written by Fougeron and Florence Eliakim, is delicate, the cinematography striking, and the direction of the actors exemplary, unusual elements for a first film and ones that round out a truly interesting work.

Thus, is it possible to abuse a son with too much attention? When does love become obsession? Is it possible to love “badly”? The film fills us with anxiety, confusion and an enormous sense of liberation when we finally see the first and only act of rebellion by the victim, a son who for an hour and a half fends off the audience with silence.

My Son is certainly not a “popcorn movie”. It requires guts and self-control to withstand its devastating emotional power. On the other hand, European audiences will appreciate the efforts of this first-time filmmaker to enter into the depths of the film’s mother-son dynamics. This is a work that will not leave the jury indifferent.

(Translated from Italian)