Father of My Children [25 points / 2 votes]
"Mia Hansen-Løve's disarming and beautiful Father of My Children, her second feature-length movie, not only celebrates the (relatively) brief career of a patron of the arts, played by Louis-Do de Lencquesaing (and inspired by the late actor/producer Humbert Balsan), but also worries about the future of art in an age of commerce and dwindling audiences. It follows what I found to be two exemplary family-centered movies out of France in the last two years: Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours and Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale. Those two films were pensive and heartfelt, and this one is no different: the second part of this picture is about the way the living have to pull themselves together after a tragic loss.
What inspires awe in this picture is the surefire way it dodges easy sentimentality and the way it skillfully changes directions midway through. Reading reviews of this picture before you see it isn't recommended: it's best (if possible) to go into it cold. Generally, I don't like it when movies shift their narrative focus so drastically - they tend to become uneven affairs - but Hansen-Løve is more than aware of this, and the picture's second half brings to mind (of all people) Andy Warhol's quote, "Dying is the most embarrassing thing that can ever happen to you, because someone's got to take care of all your details." When Lencquesaing's character leaves the movie, his spectre haunts the rest of it, as his dutiful wife tries her best to step in and manage her husband's projects... but to no avail.
What's also important to keep in mind is the title: when we pass on to the great discothèque in the sky, all of our earthly accumulations may not amount to much. Lencquesaing's character tried (and failed) to battle his own demons and left several budding (and potentially amazing) films unfunded and unfilmed. But he does leave behind two lovely daughters, which, in its own mushy, Hallmark-card kind of way, may be the most important artworks he created, educated and nurtured." - Matthew Lotti
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