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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Father Of My Children (Film)

by Mark Demetrius | August 23, 2010 16:19 | Edited August 24, 2010 11:48

This simple but wonderfully perceptive film is driven by engaging lead characters and offers real insight into the movie business.

This is a well scripted, deftly realised, and highly unusual film. It's also one in which the less revealed about the plot the better.

 

The titular father is Gregoire Canvel (Louis-Do De Lencequesaing), a very busy film producer with an abiding passion for cinema, which is not always a foregone conclusion! He's charismatic, sardonic, witty, and both rugged-looking and sensitive. But he can also be stubborn and difficult. On balance, he's essentially a good guy, with an adoring (and adored) wife, Sylvia (Chiara Caselli), and three precocious but likeable daughters (Alice De Lencquesaing, Alice Gautier, Manelle Driss). So much for the good news. Gregoire is juggling three separate major film projects and, for various reasons, they all run into trouble, leaving him and his colleagues with enormous financial headaches. And then...well, you'll just have to see it.

 

Objective problems notwithstanding, Gregoire is indeed, as Sylvia says, a "worry wart", yet he's also partly in denial. "Burying your head in the sand is not the answer," as someone reminds him. His is a contradictory personality, and De Lencequesaing gets it across well. The portrayal is enhanced by effective little touches, such as one shot in which we see a glimpse of Gregoire's shadowy reflection in a turned-off computer screen. In fact, all of the performances are strong, and all of the main characters are intelligent enough to hold our attention.
     

Father Of My Children has an anti-climactic element, but it's a necessary one. The setting moves between Paris, London and Ravenna in Italy, and a strong pop soundtrack provides an always appropriate sense of mood. It's a simple and universal story in a way, yet it's also nuanced and complex, and is also utterly convincing and interesting in its examination of the nuts and bolts of the movie business.