Beystiman
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Grimossfer
Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
PiraBit
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Raymond Sierra
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
RavenGlamDVDCollector
Listen up, people, hear ye, hear ye, gather all thee round. Praise be to the most beautiful language in the world. And no, no, it is not French. **** French!Why is it that when Americans release a film they include 23 soundtracks, including Norwegian and Icelandic? Hell, they are such bleeding hearts they consider the sensibilities of people living in Outer Mongolia. Hell, come the day we can export to Venus we'd have discs featuring Venusuese. Gee whiz yeah, Americans know how to milk 'em for their pesos by givin' 'em what they want.Ain't nothing wrong with that. Called commerce.But when the movie is in French, or Italian, or Spanish, no such luck. Why bother to dub into English? Simply slap on some subtitles. And forced ones too, you can't get rid of them.This MA MERE felt totally alien to me. There is no real viewer connection if you cannot comprehend the words. And yet I could choose to watch many of my favorite American TV shows in a plethora of unlikely languages at the flick of a button.So, Revolver Entertainment, English box for MA MERE, but no word of warning. I expected what I got, point is, though, many wouldn't have. Here's how to improve your product: include an English soundtrack.The most beautiful language in the world. Like Liz Hurley said in BEDAZZLED, everyone ought to speak it anyway. Oh, and the movie is kinda (expletive deleted if I want this accepted by IMDb) but really it sucks (another expletive deleted).. Yes, lots of nudity and pretty nudity that is too.Movie is nevertheless a load of horse manure. I do think even IMDb will let me get away with that.And if not, let them watch this (expletive deleted) themselves in (expletive deleted) French and they will (expletive deleted) concur.
peterh-23
There are many films which focus on the depraved side of human nature that while disturbing are still examples of excellent cinema. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Bad Lieutenant are two titles that come to mind. While those movies showed depravity at its worst, they had elements critical to any good movie:Good writing and a story - Good acting - Good cinematographyMa Mere has none of these. The characters are not remotely believable, there is very little in terms of story/plot, the writing is not compelling, and the cinematography is amateurish. The entire film hinges on a sequence of pornographic episodes, none of which are remotely erotic but rather a form of forced voyeurism designed to make the viewer ill.At the end of the movie, (if you make it that far), I was left wondering why I had watched it, which requires the further question of why this movie was made in the first place.
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!
MARIO GAUCI
Yet another artsy-fartsy French production, from an unfilmable source: I own the original novel, though I haven't checked it out yet - but I can gather as much from what I've read of author Georges Bataille's work! Despite writer/director Honore''s good intentions to never display sex gratuitously but rather as a means of further developing the plot (as explained in the accompanying interview), the film comes off as both pretentious and pointless - while the updating and change of setting don't work as much as he thinks they do! Most of the characters are repellent and, therefore, one is not easily drawn towards their plight: in fact, the two young women leads Isabelle Huppert and Louis Garrel - both seriously boring! - get involved with (and, particularly, gorgeous Emma De Caunes in a difficult role) are the ones who come off best, no pun intended...