''Father of My Children'' (french: Le Père de mes enfants) is a 2009 French
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Mia Hansen-Løve
Mia Hansen-Løve (born 5 February 1981) is a French film director, screenwriter, and former actress. She has won several accolades for her work. Her first feature film, '' All Is Forgiven'', won the Louis Delluc Prize for Best First Film in 2007 ...
. It won the Jury Special Prize in the
Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
section at the
2009 Cannes Film Festival
The 62nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 May to 24 May 2009. French actress Isabelle Huppert was the President of the Jury. Twenty films from thirteen countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 23 M ...
. It is based in part on the life of the late
Humbert Balsan
Humbert Jean René Balsan (21 August 1954 – 10 February 2005) was a French film producer and chairman of the European Film Academy. He was known for securing financing and distribution for diverse and often challenging films.
In February 2005 ...
.
Plot
Grégoire Canvel is a French film producer who has his own film company. Despite his luxurious country home, apartment in Paris and film company he is drowning in debt. Grégoire continues to take on more work despite his slate of current films continuing to rack up costs. Upon learning that he is 4 million euros in debt and that his catalogue of films, already mortgaged, is only worth less than a million euros and that his bank refuses to extend him any more credit Grégoire burns his bills and then shoots himself in the street.
In the wake of his death his wife Sylvia attempts to honour her husband's memory by completing the work currently in production. However her attempts fail and she is forced to liquidate the company.
Meanwhile, while waiting for her mother outside of the production office, Grégoire and Sylvia's eldest daughter, Clémence, overhears people talking about her father and how he led a double life and had a son from whom he was estranged. While Sylvia is in Sweden trying to secure funding for one of Grégoire's last films, Clémence digs through her fathers papers and discovers he did have a son named Moune to whom he sent money. Though she meets with Moune's mother, Isabelle, she ultimately does not meet Moune himself.
On the day the company is dissolved, Sylvia and her three daughters go to Grégoire's office one final time. Afterwards they leave Paris and though Clémence had wanted to visit her father's grave in order to say goodbye, her mother tells her there is simply no time. In the backseat of the car Clémence begins to cry as they pass through the city.
Cast
*
Louis-Do de Lencquesaing
Louis-Do de Lencquesaing (born 25 December 1963) is a French actor and film director. His daughter, Alice de Lencquesaing, is also an actress.
Filmography
As an actor
*''Les dernières heures du millénaire'' (1990, Short)
*''Madame Bovary'' ( ...
as Grégoire Canvel
*
Alice de Lencquesaing
Alice de Lencquesaing (; born 11 August 1991) is a French actress who appeared in Mia Hansen-Løve's 2009 film '' Father of My Children'' with her father Louis-Do de Lencquesaing. Her mother is cinematographer Caroline Champetier
Caroline Champe ...
as Clémence
*
Michaël Abiteboul
Michaël Abiteboul is a French actor.
Filmography
Theatre
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abiteboul, Michael
French male film actors
Living people
21st-century French male actors
Year of birth missing (living peop ...
as The banker
*
Chiara Caselli
Chiara Caselli (born 22 December 1967) is an Italian actress. In 1994, Caselli won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress award as well as the David di Donatello for Best Actress award. Caselli has appeared in American films including ''My Own P ...
as Sylvia Canvel
*Manelle Driss as Billie Canvel
*
Sandrine Dumas
Sandrine Dumas (born 28 April 1963) is a French film and stage actress and director.
Dumas was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine. She has appeared in Miloš Forman's '' Valmont'', and Krzysztof Kieślowski's ''The Double Life of Véronique'', among ...
as Valérie
*
Eric Elmosnino as Serge
Production
Hansen-Løve based the character of Grégoire on
Humbert Balsan
Humbert Jean René Balsan (21 August 1954 – 10 February 2005) was a French film producer and chairman of the European Film Academy. He was known for securing financing and distribution for diverse and often challenging films.
In February 2005 ...
whom she had met after she had made her first short film and who had originally intended to produce her first film ''
All Is Forgiven'' before he committed suicide.
She cast her cousin Igor Hansen-Løve in the role of Arthur Malkavian, a young screen writer whose film Grégoire wants to produce, giving him an experience similar to her own with
Humbert Balsan
Humbert Jean René Balsan (21 August 1954 – 10 February 2005) was a French film producer and chairman of the European Film Academy. He was known for securing financing and distribution for diverse and often challenging films.
In February 2005 ...
.
Reception
''Father of My Children'' has a rating of 76 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
and 91% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
indicating widespread positive reviews.
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Father Of My Children
2009 films
2009 drama films
2000s French-language films
French drama films
Films directed by Mia Hansen-Løve
Films about suicide
Films set in Paris
Films about film directors and producers
2000s French films