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Theatrical release poster
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Imagine that you’re a virginal teenager and that your mother is watching you having sex with a woman for the first time. That’s one of central, shocking concerns of Ma Mere. It’s hard to think of any other actress but Isabelle Huppert, arguably the most accomplished French thespian of her generation, pulling off such a tricky and demanding role role–without a blink or any expressed emotion.
Unbridled individualism and unrestrained sexual freedom invariably lead to deviance and abuse, both of which can take many forms. Centering on a bizarre mother-son relationship, “Ma Mere,” which could have been called “Leap into Void,” concerns moral breakdown at its most perverse extreme.
Pierre (Louis Garrel) is at age, 17, when personal and sexual choices seem too random and arbitrary to bear meaning, make any sense. Utterly confused and without guidance, he doesn’t know where he’s going, what he wants, why his best friend cannot be his lover, and so on.
Pierre’s mother, Helene (Isabelle Huppert), seems to be experiencing her own arrested development or at least emotional numbness. As later becomes clear, she has remained the hedonistic wild child of her youth, refusing any form of discipline and celebrating sensuality as an expression of complete independence. For Helene, regulations are like prison, unnecessary and imposed from the outside.
With lots of free time to dispose, Helene explores her sexuality with women, such as Rea (Joana Preiss) and Hansi (Emma de Caunes), and men too, some of whom are even willing to pay for the privilege to be humiliated and abused.
The film is set in a Mediterranean resort island, where Helene has a villa overlooking the sea. Pierre comes over for the holidays and hangs about in a typically adolescent passive and brooding manner. He is wondering around the isolated villa as if hoping that sheer boredom would lead to some personal revelation, an insight for what direction he is to assume.
A young mother, in both biological age and spirit, Helene displays the uninhibited candor of a free spirit, open to every sexual experience. She comes up with a scheme for Rea to sexually initiate Pierre, but she comes on too strong when he’s drunk in the street early one morning.
In contrast, the other woman, Hansi, is gentler and subtler in her seduction of the beautiful boy, who doesn’t know whether or not he’s gay, could sleep around with women, and might wish to sleep with his mother. He disregards Helene’s warning, that “desire reduces us to weakness,” and begins to experiment with all kinds of sexual games and psychological escapades.
It’s hard to imagine any American film, mainstream or indie, exploring such intimate issues in a bold and frank manner. Indeed, “Ma Mere” captures the orgiastic nature of a bohemian life that has no rules, no morality, no guilt, and no shame.
Through it all, writer-director Christophe Honore seems less concerned with showing decadence in its modern context as in telling Pierre’s search for authentic identity and meaning.
Slapped with NC-17 rating, the film is daring, and at times even shocking. And on the surface, it might appear that the obsession with sex is done for sensationalistic reasons, titillating audiences with a candid look into “the forbidden.”
I realize that the film will be dismissed by some critics along these lines, though I have no doubts that Honore is concerned with the more serious and grave issues of maternal love, loss, fear and isolation.
Unfortunately, it takes too long for the movie to reach its poignancy, and, despite sexual candidness, long stretches of narrative are not particularly exciting to watch. Cold and detached, with several scenes that feel like case studies of clinical psychology, “Ma Mere” might alienate viewers seeking emotional involvement with a clear narrative and relatable characters.
That said, the performances are exceptional, particularly by Garrel, better known until now for his role as the twin brother in Bertolucci’s “The Dreamers.” With this film, the already legendary Huppert again proves that her acting range is truly limitless and that she rightfully deserves to be labeled as the most daring and fearless actress working in world cinema today.
Cast
Isabelle Huppert as Hélène
Louis Garrel as Pierre
Emma de Caunes as Hansi
Joana Preiss as Réa
Jean-Baptiste Montagut as Loulou
Dominique Reymond as Marthe
Olivier Rabourdin as Robert
Philippe Duclos as Father
Credits:
Directed by Christophe Honoré
Screenplay by Christophe Honoré. based on Ma Mère by Georges Bataille
Produced by Paulo Branco, Bernard-Henri Lévy
Cinematography Hélène Louvart
Edited by Chantal Hymans
Release dates: May 19, 2004 (France)
Running time: 110 minutes
Budget €2.7 million
Box office $1.5 million
