Philippe Lioret has not made a bad movie yet ;I would go as far as to write that "Toutes Nos Envies" ,"Je Vais Bien Ne T'en Fais Pas" ,"L'Equipier" "Welcome" or "Tombés Du Ciel"have placed him firmly and definitively among French finest contemporary directors .With "Le Fils De Jean " ,he's simply become my favorite contemporary French director.
I still wonder why I like his movies so much : take this latest work:the story of the son/daughter who has never known his/her father and finds him again has been told,told,and TOLD.Besides ,Mathieu is divorced ,one of the clichés of the French cinema.
The first fifteen minutes perplexed me.But the further acquaintance says this:another topflight Lioret movie.Every time he transcends the often melodramatic subject ,every time he makes it absorbing and endearing.Far from the feel-good fashion which mars the present French scene , his characters are made of flesh and blood, and they are In SEARCH of something : his lost son for the father in " Je Vais Bien" ,a new land for the young immigrant of " Welcome",a reason to carry on her earthly ride for the terminally-ill lawyer in "Toutes Nos Envies" ....
"Le Fils De Jean" is perhaps his most complex work ,for it is a double search ; a search for a father he has never known and for two brothers he has never had for Mathieu;a mysterious search for Pierre,who ,little by little,considers the French illegal son as the son he has never had .Compared to this,the search of the dead body which might be at the bottom of a lake , is somewhat pathetic and the brothers Mathieu longs to love show themselves greedy and devoid of humanity.As for Pierre ,he is disillusioned,embittered , ill: in the first part,he is contemptuous, hostile ,as though he had a secret too hard to conceal.
"What's the name of the lake?" asks Mathieu ."None ;we just call him "the lake" "like me" says the boy ,of an unknown father".
The picture may puzzle the viewer -and the fact that Mathieu can estimate right away is a bit unlikely- but it inspires Lioret's disregard for money : the stethoscope who reportedly belonged to Mathieu's dad means more to him than a 80,000 dollars painting ;the same for the doctor who "has always tried not to make too much money";moreover ,it's this instrument which reveals the truth ,an admirable breathtaking sequence ,in every sense of the term.Note that when he talks to Pierre in the last sequences ,he uses "Tu" (second person singular) instead of the formal "Vous "(second person plural)
Pierre Deladonchamps is a promising newcomer (who finds here a much better part than in "L'Homme Du Lac " which suffered from a poor screenplay),who discovers that his search is not necessarily the one which concerns him ;as the film progresses ,it's Gabriel Arcand who becomes the true hero of the movie; like Kad Merad in "Je Vais Bien ", this sullen character becomes more and more human and wise ,even hating traditional medicine .The thespian's performance is a tour De force ,from a disagreeable grumbler to a distraught wreck with a gaunt face.
It's another damn great movie by a director who is going to be around for a long time.
I still wonder why I like his movies so much : take this latest work:the story of the son/daughter who has never known his/her father and finds him again has been told,told,and TOLD.Besides ,Mathieu is divorced ,one of the clichés of the French cinema.
The first fifteen minutes perplexed me.But the further acquaintance says this:another topflight Lioret movie.Every time he transcends the often melodramatic subject ,every time he makes it absorbing and endearing.Far from the feel-good fashion which mars the present French scene , his characters are made of flesh and blood, and they are In SEARCH of something : his lost son for the father in " Je Vais Bien" ,a new land for the young immigrant of " Welcome",a reason to carry on her earthly ride for the terminally-ill lawyer in "Toutes Nos Envies" ....
"Le Fils De Jean" is perhaps his most complex work ,for it is a double search ; a search for a father he has never known and for two brothers he has never had for Mathieu;a mysterious search for Pierre,who ,little by little,considers the French illegal son as the son he has never had .Compared to this,the search of the dead body which might be at the bottom of a lake , is somewhat pathetic and the brothers Mathieu longs to love show themselves greedy and devoid of humanity.As for Pierre ,he is disillusioned,embittered , ill: in the first part,he is contemptuous, hostile ,as though he had a secret too hard to conceal.
"What's the name of the lake?" asks Mathieu ."None ;we just call him "the lake" "like me" says the boy ,of an unknown father".
The picture may puzzle the viewer -and the fact that Mathieu can estimate right away is a bit unlikely- but it inspires Lioret's disregard for money : the stethoscope who reportedly belonged to Mathieu's dad means more to him than a 80,000 dollars painting ;the same for the doctor who "has always tried not to make too much money";moreover ,it's this instrument which reveals the truth ,an admirable breathtaking sequence ,in every sense of the term.Note that when he talks to Pierre in the last sequences ,he uses "Tu" (second person singular) instead of the formal "Vous "(second person plural)
Pierre Deladonchamps is a promising newcomer (who finds here a much better part than in "L'Homme Du Lac " which suffered from a poor screenplay),who discovers that his search is not necessarily the one which concerns him ;as the film progresses ,it's Gabriel Arcand who becomes the true hero of the movie; like Kad Merad in "Je Vais Bien ", this sullen character becomes more and more human and wise ,even hating traditional medicine .The thespian's performance is a tour De force ,from a disagreeable grumbler to a distraught wreck with a gaunt face.
It's another damn great movie by a director who is going to be around for a long time.