A Loving Father

REVIEW
Real life father and son Gérard Depardieu and Guillaume Depardieu star in this almost too-close-for-comfort drama about fame and family dysfunction. Paul (Guillaume) is a twenty-something drifter who has lived his life in the shadows of celebrated novelist Leo (Gérard), his emotionally and communicatively distant father. When news gets to Paul that his father has won a Nobel-like prize for literacy, he cracks. While dad is motorcycling to Stockholm to receive his prize, Paul follows and, after his attempts at civil conversation with him (Leo is dismissive of his “good for nothing” son), he stalks him. When an accident involving Leo leaves him dazed, he regains his senses to find he has been abducted by his son. Now, tied down and essentially kidnapped, the two – trapped with each other as they travel the European countryside – begin to talk. The complexities of family dynamics are brilliantly illustrated in this fast-paced, at times bitterly funny tale. The elder Depardieu is in top form as the brusque, independent father who takes no responsibility and Guillaume is both menacing and sympathetic as a young man unable to loosen himself from the debilitative effects of an unhappy childhood. French filmmaking at its finest. (French with English subtitles)