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Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel, Emma de Caunes, Joana Preiss, Jean-Baptiste Montagut ... see more see more... , Dominique Reymond , Olivier Rabourdin , Philippe Duclos , Pascal Tokatlian , Theo Hakola

An attractive widow finds her attentions turning to her teenage son in a troubling manner in this drama from France. Pierre (Louis Garrel) is a moody 17-year-old who is spending the summer with his pa... read more read more...rents at their summer home in the Canary Islands. While Pierre isn't especially close to his father (Philippe Duclos), he enjoys a warm relationship with his mother, Hélène (Isabelle Huppert) -- almost too warm, as her affection for him subtly strains the boundaries of typical familial behavior. When Pierre's father dies unexpectedly in an auto accident, his emotional dependence on Hélène grows, while her desire for her son does the same. Though Pierre finds himself attracted to several girls his own age summering on the island, he finds it increasingly difficult to reconcile his curiosity with the growing sexual tension between mother and son. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

47% liked it

4,335 ratings

Critics

12% liked it

42 critics

NC-17, 1 hr. 50 min.

Directed by: Christophe Honoré

Release Date: May 13, 2005

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DVD Release Date: October 18, 2005

Stats: 324 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (324)

  • matertenebraum
    December 21, 2009
    matertenebraum
    European cinema at its best! Producer Paulo Branco has been producing some of the best films and best directors in Europe and this is one of the latest ones. Absolutely amazing, in depicting obsession, incest, dysfunction, love, selfishness, acceptation, pain... It's particularly... read more brilliant how time and space is (not) presented.

    The ending is terrific and the perfect conclusion to the story. Absolutely superb, a film I think only French could have the audacity to do... I hope European Cinema gets more protection so that we can keep watching these master pieces, otherwise we'll just have to stay dumb watching the main pop corn stream...
  • SirPant
    October 1, 2009
    SirPant
    French Existentialism. It does my head in! No really, this film is not as clever or as artistic as it thinks it is. Loosely based on a novel by Georges Bataille and ripped to pieces by Christophe Honoré who totally misses the point or at least doesn't understand the meaning (He ... read morealso thinks by ripping off great directors like Eric Rohmer & Truffaut he is as good as them). This is awkward and unpleasant viewing. So far up its own arse its untrue but if you like the thought of your mum sticking a finger up your arse and making you lick it off then watching you have sex like a horse in a shopping centre, then this film is right up your street. I just hope you don't live down mine! Extra star for the good acting, read the book instead!
  • flixsterman
    September 18, 2009
    flixsterman
    Pierre is the product of a very unconventional marriage. Both his parents lead promiscuous lives and he spends most of his childhood in a Catholic boarding school. Soon after he returns home, now a young man, his father dies and his mother, undeterred by her husband's death, dr... read moreaws her son into her perverse lifestyle.

    I'm not sure I'm open-minded enough to fully appreciate Ma Mere. It attempts to titillate by venturing into those dark places where most people feel VERY uncomfortable. If there is a moral to this story it's simply this: "Don't hump your mother". (Frankly, I didn't need an artsy French film to figure that out.)
  • gator681
    July 6, 2006
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"Ma Mere" starts out with Pierre(Louis Garrel) arriving at the vacation home of his parents in the Canary Islands. Soon after, his father has to return home to[/font] France on business where he is killed in an accident. Distraught, Pierre withdraws almost ... read morecompletely while his mother, Helene(Isabelle Huppert), hardly misses a beat. In fact, she gives him the key to his father's study before she heads out to party. Inside the study, Pierre finds a rather large stash of pornography. At first, he masturbates, then urinates all over it. Later, while he is nude sunbathing, Helene approaches him and tells him that it is time he got a first hand look at her hedonist ways, starting out with an introduction to her friend, Rea(Joana Preiss), who is even wilder than she is...

    "Ma Mere" is a sexually explicit and provocative movie about intimacy and sex, and how dissimilar they really are. Helene has sex in copious amounts, but it is intimacy and love that Pierre desperately needs.(Pierre was raised by his grandparents since apparently Helene is so carefree as to be incapable of raising a child.)

    And the scenic locations are very well photographed.
  • danieljparsons
    April 2, 2007
    danieljparsons
    Pretty disturbing, controversial, but stunningly acted French film. Pierre, fresh from boarding school, returns home to his somewhat estranged mother. After learning about the death of his father in a car crash, Pierre soon enters a world of alcohol drugs and sex.

    What follows... read more is something of a numbing experience: full frontal nudity, strong sex scenes and incest are all thrown up on screen. Had it not been for the powerful performances from Louis Garrel and Isabelle Huppert and some interesting camerawork, I may have lost interest in the whole thing (despite the subject matter), especially considering its inordinate running time.
  • SunilJawahir
    September 15, 2009
    SunilJawahir
    SPOILER ALERT - I really thought I knew what I was getting with this movie. I knew there was a sexually confused son, back from boarding school who has an odd relationship with his mother. And I knew it was NC-17. And I actually thought most of the movie was pretty B/B- worthy. B... read moreUT the last 20 minutes or so goes from unconventional, to uncomfortable, to just plain FUCKED Up. And just when I thought it was over, the son jerks off to his dead mom.
  • jimbotender
    August 23, 2009
    jimbotender
    It lacks a proper and developing potion so it can be revived as a unique work of art.Honore's magic couldn't possibly advance the logic of this project to an erotic masterpiece (perhaps as a commentary to family ties..),Bataille I bet wasn't too insulted by the result,I 'm feelin... read moreg here though that there wasn't much passion/lust for depravity...
  • thesouthernlady
    October 7, 2010
    thesouthernlady
    It shouldn't even get a rating. It's one of the worst movies out there. DO NOT WATCH IT. An hour and 49 minutes I will never get back. It's something.
  • ladyoblong
    May 22, 2008
    ladyoblong
    it was so disturbing and inappropriate. I dont even want to know the mind of someone who would make a film like this.
  • tippyco
    November 7, 2007
    tippyco
    In most cases I applaud the French for dishing out some of the best movies I've ever seen. But then theres movies like this that just make me sick to my stomach.

View All Ma Mere,(Meine Mutter),(My Mother) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Jessica Reaves
August 18, 2005
Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune

A self-satisfied, utterly hollow Bacchanal. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
July 29, 2005
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

110 minutes of Euro silliness mitigated only by the presence of Huppert and the striking ability of the actors to keep a straight face throughout this mess. Full Review

Ty Burr
July 8, 2005
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Probably isn't for anyone not interested in the darkest corners of the human psyche, where sexual annihilation is the only response to a fallen world, where all moral bets are off, and where a boy's w... Full Review

Michael O'Sullivan
July 7, 2005
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

[The climax] involves such a disturbing blend of unhealthy mother-son affection and physical pain that it gives new meaning to the term child -- not to mention audience -- abuse. Full Review

Peter Howell
July 1, 2005
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

It could stand as Exhibit A for why French auteurs are a tough sell to the average seeker of entertainment. Full Review

Liam Lacey
July 1, 2005
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

The translation from the highly literary to the literalness of film isn't easy and too often, Ma Mère feels like a parody. Full Review

Scott Foundas
June 10, 2005
Scott Foundas, Variety

Respectable, tightly coiled, but ultimately unrewarding. Full Review

Frank Scheck
June 7, 2005
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

Honore uses an ultraserious, would-be stylish approach that ultimately renders the depraved proceedings far more boring than titillating.

Owen Gleiberman
May 19, 2005
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

It winds up making incest look absurdly swank. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
May 17, 2005
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

Absurd at best, and most absurd when it's tiresomely trying to shock us. Full Review

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