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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Ma Mère
Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 94 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign
Written by:
Christophe Honoré
Georges Bataille (novel)
Directed by: Christophe Honoré
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 13, 2005
DVD: October 18, 2005
Running Time: 110 minutes, Color
Origin: France / Portugal / Austria / Spain
Language(s): French / English / German / Spanish (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: NC-17 for strong and aberrant sexual content
Starring Louis Garrel, Isabelle Huppert, Emma de Caunes, Joana Preiss, Jean-Baptiste Montagut, Philippe Duclos, Dominique Reymond, and Olivier Rabourdin
A disturbing relationship develops between an attractive widow (Huppert) and her teenage son (Garrel).
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Isn't for the kiddies. It probably isn't for anyone not interested in the darkest corners of the human psyche.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Ma Mere, with its sun-drenched sense of dread and band of reckless, unlikable characters, isn't very good, but that doesn't stop the actors -- especially the intrepid Huppert -- from going all the way.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
It's pretentious highbrow trash, but as far as that goes it works pretty well.
Read Full Review >Variety Scott Foundas
Director Christophe Honore's respectable, tightly coiled, but ultimately unrewarding adaptation of Georges Bataille's posthumous novel.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Based on a novel by French provocateur Georges Bataille, an important thinker whose fiction rarely translates into good cinema.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
For all its shocking content, it remains a rather conventional psychological portrait of Oedipal attraction taken to a disturbing extreme.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Ma Mère, while less prudish than Catherine Breillat's dour deconstructions of sex, is also less competent. It winds up making incest look absurdly swank.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Yet another stylish exercise in depravity in which Huppert floats through the sordid proceedings in a calm haze. If only the film she inhabits was as sexy as it aspires to be.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Melissa Levine
At first, Ma Mère is shocking and even alluring, but it doesn't take long for the conceit to wear thin, especially since the characters so rarely act as recognizable humans.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Ma Mère may be ludicrous, but its cast displays a commitment that deserves more than grudging admiration.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves
If you are at all squeamish about incest and/or prefer sex scenes without violent undertones, you should avoid this movie.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
This tale of disaffected sexual depravity is practically a parody of the worst of French filmmaking.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
Honoré never gets beneath these characters' sunburned skins, and well before the end, the film tips irretrievably over into the realm of absurdity.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Huppert is wonderful, as usual, and she's to be congratulated for taking this daring role. But, alas, even she can't save Ma Mere.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
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.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 94 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Rob gave it a6:
This movie fails on almost every level except for 2 heavily important ones: the acting, and the depiction of how one wreckles soul can destroy the lives and steal the innocence of everybody she comes into contact with.
Ughi Y. gave it a10:
I liked the film. Best I've seen in a while. Nothing special. But, I thought Louis Garrel was amazing. Good cinematography. A little sexual but you know. One of the best French films in a while. The NC-17 rating was so cool!
Prudence K. gave it a10:
Louis Garrel and Isabelle Huppert both deserve Oscar for their chilling performances! Incredible film. The best film I've ever seen of all time.
Moi A. gave it a0:
All I can say is......YUCK!!!!!
Mandy gave it a1:
AWFUL. sick, perverse. i walks out after an hour and a half and i'm shocked that i stayed that long. the plot was weak, so the gratuitous, violent, sexual scenes grew to be boring. yes, they were disturbing, but there was no plot to back them.
Oscar P. gave it a2:
One of the worst french films i have seen in the cinema. I. Huppert is the best of this.
