The Father of My Children

A decent, well-made movie with a very traditional Parisian look and feel, which is held back by a lot of bleakness in a story which doesn't really go anywhere. In fact it's more of a living portrait of a family during a short period of time, rather than a narrative film driven by its plot. Very good acting by the eldest and middle daughters, and the director was clever to let her camera hover on their close-ups for as long as possible. A sad movie which feels much like an episode of real life.

"Hansen-Løve's narrative invention seems like a contrived gesture, a break with the film's carefully regulated naturalism and an unproductive disruption to an otherwise precise and subtly affecting piece of work." - Andrew Schenker

Typical understated, thoughtful French film. Good to look at but this didn't particularly grip me and was even a little dull at times.

A fascinating portrait of a charismatic man and the effect of his suicide on his family. Understated and well-acted, this doesn't pretend to understand why he does it, but is an unflinching portrayal of the consequences. Kudos too for using Jonathan Richman in the soundtrack.

The tragic story of Humbert Balsans death. Even the independent movie business can get ugly.

It's a bleak but wonderfully poignant film about a family dealing with the tragic suicide of a loved one. However, the portrayal of the events leading to the suicide lacked a much-needed psychological perspective, a portrait of the state of the character's mind which led him to do such a drastic measure to escape his problems. And this is what keeps this French film from achieving cinematic greatness despite its potential.

The backdrop of the cinémonde gives it automatically a certain cachet, but it could just as well have to do with an investment firm or a construction outfit: the crisis is financial, not artistic, and not inherently very involving, very tangible, very graspable. The film never looks less than impeccable, however, with its crisp, cool, pale color and cozy yet discreet camerawork. Fabled French taste seeps into every particular of the treatment, understated, unstressed, fluid, just a tad tepid.