Ma Mere

Ma Mere (Christophe Honore, 2005) [4]
At first, I was horribly put off by this film and thought it was going to be an utter disaster. But as I continued to watch, it warmed on me slowly but not that much. Aesthetically, there are a lot of things I can get behind. The swirling, jangled hand-held camerawork, the Fassbinder like zooms (I stole that from Sicinski, but it’s the internet; come and find me!), and the stark brightness of the setting. Isabelle Huppert is fearless and mesmerizing at times in her role as the incestuous (?) mother. All my problems come from the story. I’m not exactly sure if Huppert’s character is a dominatrix, madam, help me out here. What are the reasons for this incestuous affair? Why would a mother and son determine to do this? Nothing is ever answered in a satisfying way for me, and while I don’t want everything answered, this film just seems to move along and then it ends. With lots of strange sex in between.