Aime ton père (2002)
Directed by Jacob Berger

Film Review

Aime ton père is a film that wilfully blurs fiction and real-life experiences in a typically French variant of the road movie.  Writer-director Jacob Berger uses his own experiences as the basis for the narrative - he is the son of the eminent English writer John Berger.  French cinema's most famous father and son - Gérard and Guillaume Depardieu - take the film's two main roles, and is not difficult to see the parallels between the characters they play and the people they are in real-life.  The differences between Depardieu père and fils are will-known and it is quite extraordinary that they should end up, not only in the same film (they already did that in Alain Corneau's Tous les matins du monde), but in a film where they effectively have to play out something of their own private domestic drama.  Is this therapy or wanton masochism?  Is there nothing the Depardieus wouldn't do for their art?

In spite of - or perhaps because of - the proximity to their own experiences, the two Depardieus manage to put in some incredible performances in this film.  Both appear visibly tormented by their memories and inability to communicate with one another.  Gérard is most effective when he is silently fuming - he hardly needs dialogue to convey the depth and complexity of his emotions, and when he does speak, often in frenzied outbursts, this seems to take away much of his power and presence.  It is Guillaume, surprisingly, who provides the film with its emotional strength and sense of truth.  In what is probably his best performance to date, he portrays with harrowing realism the trauma of an unloved child and the continual inner conflict of an adult unable to forgive his father.  Given the right material and the right director, Guillaume Depardieu shows that he can be every bit as fine an actor as his father.

Despite the contributions from its lead actors - and by the way Sylvie Testud is pretty amazing as well - Aime ton père is far from being a faultless piece of cinema.  Whilst there are some great moments, the relentlessly sombre mood of the piece does introduce a sense of stifling monotony which does ultimately get irksome.  However, the biggest failing is the unconvincing ending, in which nothing appears to be resolved and everything just seems to dissolve away into a hazy purple mist of artistic pretentiousness.  Whilst it may look superficially pretty, it's dramatically weak - a totally unsatisfying conclusion to what is otherwise a rather moving slice of life drama.

Film Synopsis

Léo Sheperd is a prominent writer who, it has just been announced, is to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.  A reclusive man, Sheperd presently lives on a remote farm with his partner and daughter.  Upon hearing the news, he begins the long journey to Stockholm on his trusty motorbike.  At a petrol station, he runs into his estranged son Paul, who is eager to congratulate him on his success.  Léo has no time for his son and, having exchanged a few words, he resumes his solitary journey.  Paul follows him in his car and later catches up with him at the site of a road accident.  Even though Léo appears to be unharmed, his son insists on accompanying him to hospital.  After years of silence, the two men finally have a chance to speak to one another and settle their differences.  It proves to be a traumatic encounter for them both...