De Broca completely missed the point

Philippe De Broca - of whom I love many films - completely missed the point in this one. He was confronted with a social taboo and couldn't cope with it, so, of this narcissistic mean mother he made a caricature, and could not go any further in depth.
The book and the story describe a typical narcissistic all-powerful character, the mother, who behaves like a tyrant but Philippe De Broca did not use the tricks this kind of dangerous pathological character uses, tricks which are embedded in the book, like typical "double-binds" (which are a classic). The consequences of this mother's actions on her children's minds are also not really treated and the whole story seems to be the mild problems of some kids with the misdemeanour of a sort of mother in law during the summer holiday on the French riviera with Pagnol.

We can understand Philippe De Broca has had a happy childhood and could not understand the real scale of the devilish evil of a narcissistic character, especially embedded in a powerful mother.