I was lucky enough to buy this DVD from Italy. That is how I got to see it.
While it is very well acted/directed, this is not an easy film. It is very difficult. Very fragmented. The characters and story never really seem to reach that pivotal point.
It is worth seeing, but be warned it is not an easy film. Fans of Huppert and the director will enjoy it. But many will be left scratching their heads.
Has anyone else seen this film?
What did you think of it?
I just watched the dvd. I agree that it's a very difficult topic--a mother who feels absolute disgust toward her daughter for no reason except that she never really wanted children in the first place but felt guilty that her husband did (it would have been better if she had an abortion). The torment that the daughter experiences throughout her childhood and later adulthood is painful to see.
Isabelle Huppert was outstanding as the mother. I'm not sure any other actress could play this role as well. Greta Scacchi was very convincing as the therapist. And Mélanie Laurent was great as the daughter.
This is a film where the acting outshone the screenplay, however. As mentioned, the film is fragmentary. We don't get any background on the mother and how she became so ill. The dvd extras had some deleted scenes, but they didn't have subtitles so I couldn't understand them very well. I would have liked to have a glimpse into her childhood years.
The ending was unrealistic as well. I just didn't buy it. It seemed to be put there solely to have something positive after all the previous darkness.
I would recommend this film to those who love Huppert, and for those interested in tortured mother/daughter relationships. It's just too painful otherwise.
"And all the pieces matter"
I totally agree with you that the ending is unrealistic, and I say that as a film fanatic with a BA and an MA in Psychology.
A person with a severe mental illness as portrayed so convincingly by Huppert just doesn't suddenly and "magically" get cured back to "sane" status that easily, even if they do have a "life changing" event happen to them, like the sudden death of Danielle's daughter in this film. Sorry, but severe mental illness just doesn't work that way.
Another reason that the ending is unrealistic is that the now "miraculously cured" Danielle is shown strolling on the beach alone with her granddaughter. NO WAY, JOSE that would ever happen back here on Planet Earth. Even if you buy into the fantasy that Danielle was suddenly cured of her psychosis, just her psychiatric history alone as a delusional, hospitalized woman who had a perverted maternal instinct, violent episodes, and suicidal tendencies would prevent her from getting anywhere near that little girl for a LONG, LONG time, and even then it would be SUPERVISED visits in a controlled indoor setting, and not ALONE on an open terrain like a beach. Any mental health professional who would even sign off on such close personal contact with the daughter of the daughter that she so insanely hated would lose their professional credentials. That doesn't even get into the whole issue of what the father of the little girl would think about the whacko mother of his now deceased wife getting near his little girl. You think that the dad of that little girl would EVER let Danielle get near her after all the freaky stuff that his wife undoubtedly told him about her? I DON'T THINK SO !!!!!
This is why the ending to the much acclaimed Taxi Driver (1973) is equally unreal, because exactly the same thing happens in that film. Protagonist Travis Bickle is successfully portrayed by De Niro as an increasingly deranged man who obsessively stalks, and plots the assassination of a political figure yet, after the "cathartic" shootout near the end, where he "rescues" Iris from the bad guys, he's suddenly acting like he's completely cured. Sorry, but severe mental illness just doesn't work that way.
In general, I've found that filmmakers that try to portray mentally ill characters don't seem to have done any research on mental illness whatsoever. They just seem to proceed with a completely uninformed portrayal of mental illness that fits the fancies (fantasies)of their storyline.