Comment j'ai tué mon père (My Father and I) (2001)

89% of critics liked it
(44 reviews)
52% of users liked it
(389 ratings)

When the grown-up children of a missing parent are reunited with their father, they discover it raises more questions than it answers in a well-crafted mood piece from writer/director Anne Fontaine. Jean-Luc (Charles Berling) is a well-to-do physician whose practice is devoted to older patients,… More When the grown-up children of a missing parent are reunited with their father, they discover it raises more questions than it answers in a well-crafted mood piece from writer/director Anne Fontaine. Jean-Luc (Charles Berling) is a well-to-do physician whose practice is devoted to older patients, many of whom are forced to confront their fears about death. While Jean-Luc is used to dealing with such issues, they come home for him one day when he learns that his father has died. The news prompts Jean-Luc to look back at his younger days, and his difficult relationship with his dad, Maurice (Michel Bouquet), who ran out on his family when Jean-Luc was a boy and returned after he'd grown to adulthood with few explanations about where he'd gone (he became a volunteer physician in the Third World) and why he left his wife and children behind. Growing up in an air of uncertainty has had an impact on Jean-Luc's relationship with his wife Isa (Natacha Regnier); neither is certain of how to reach out to one another, and Jean-Luc sometimes seeks comfort in the arms of Myriem (Amira Casar), an assistant in his office. Maurice's absence also took its toll on Jean-Luc's brother, Patrick (Stephane Guillon), who deals with his anxieties by pursuing a career as a comic, while earning his keep as Jean-Luc's driver. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: Anne Fontaine
Written By: Jacques Fieschi, Anne Fontaine
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Aug 8, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Jul 27, 2004
Studio: New Yorker Films

Critic Reviews

Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Hushed but scalpel-sharp drama, a movie that'll probably send men in the audience home much quieter than they arrived.
Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News
Trés French, trés fascinating psychodrama.
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
This is a fascinating film because there is no clear-cut hero and no all-out villain.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
This is a harrowing movie about how parents know where all the buttons are, and how to push them.
Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune
Cold, nervy and memorable.
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
The film is about the relationships rather than about the outcome. And it sees those relationships, including that between the son and his wife, and the wife and the father, and between the two brothers, with incredible subtlety and acumen.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Vet French actor Michel Bouquet renders such an astounding performance that he elevates Anne Fontaine's family melodrama way above its Freudian foundations and male menopause.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
A bela construção de personagens merece elogios.
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Brilliantly and pitilessly dissects a father-son relationship that has deteriorated beyond dysfunction.
Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Whether writer-director Anne Fontaine's film is a ghost story, an account of a nervous breakdown, a trip down memory lane, all three or none of the above, it is as seductive as it is haunting.
Marta Barber, Miami Herald
Watching these two actors play against each other so intensely, but with restraint, is a treat.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
A chilly, brooding but quietly resonant psychological study of domestic tension and unhappiness.
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
Sad, yet interesting.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
How I Killed My Father would be a rarity in Hollywood. It's an actor's showcase that accomplishes its primary goal without the use of special effects, but rather by emphasizing the characters -- including the supporting ones.
Jean Lowerison, San Diego Metropolitan
It's a tour de force, written and directed so quietly that it's implosion rather than explosion you fear.