The Father of My Children (Le père de mes enfants - 2009)

This French movie, which won Un Certain Regard, the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, didn't knock us out. The first half is one mood, the second half is another--almost like two movies. Many questions are left unanswered. Much of the PR gives away the BIG plot point halfway through but I choose not to. Director/writer Mia Hansen-Løve, protegée and life partner of Olivier Assayas, 25 years her senior, has been lauded for this, her second feature film. Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, who plays movie producer Grégoire, the title character, has worked a lot in his native France, but is not familiar to me. His lovely daughter Alice de Lencquesaing, who was in Assayas' sweet Summer Hours, plays Clémence, one of the three wonderful children (the others are Alice Gautier and Manelle Driss, as Valentine and Billie, respectively). The mom is played by Italian actress Chiara Caselli. If Louis-Do (AKA Louis Dominique) were as skilled as Tilda Swinton at that trembling emotionality, perhaps we would have been more impressed, as were the reviewers (90% on rottentomatoes), but, as my mother used to say, that's what makes horse racing.