If you’re looking for something to make Summer 2010 last just a bit longer, Father of My Children (suprisingly not a story about baby daddies) will make you feel some excruciatingly long moments. Louis-Do de Lencquesaing stars as Grégoire Canvel, a famous yet financially insoluble film producer who is struggling to keep his production company afloat. The first half of the movie suffers from a severe lack of editing as scene after scene shows Grégoire on his cellphone, apersonality-less version of Nine’s Guido Contini. Although it is obviously difficult to make any film based on debt and suicidal depression enjoyable, this film lacks the ability to make the viewer feel any emotion, let alone empathy, other than boredom.
That said, the film does have a few strengths. Grégoire’s wife, played by Chiara Caselli, is an understated portrayal of a woman in crisis; she never devolves into melodrama and histrionics. One moment at the very end that shows her at her most callous really adds to her humanity. The true standouts in this film, however, are the children. While providing a small bit of comic entertainment in the first half, they then sincerely and subtlety voice raw anger in the second half.
The music is largely forgettable, except for a few jarring points that seem more of an attempt to seem artistic rather than actually create art. In fact, the entire film seems to bang its message of progress over the head with its many artistic allusions, directions, and dialogue. Still, if you enjoy very slow-paced French films, Father of My Children might be for you.
