Review of Viper in the Fist

Although not generally a fan of turn-of-the-century reconstitutions, I admit to rather enjoying this film because of its plastic beauty, sets, dialogues and choice of actors. I am a great fan of both Jacques Villeret and Cathérine Frot, because they both have curious and instantly recognizeable faces as well as orally attractive accents when they speak. The film, a childhood biography illustrating the incomprehension between a mother and her children, comprises a fair number of scrumptious dialogues, comic situations, and well filmed sets. The theme music too is not unpleasant and blends in well with the events. The "voice-off" technique is used - for me this is very reassuring and puts me straight into the story - in cases where this technique is NOT used, I sometimes waste a certain amount of time around the beginning wondering exactly what is going on and asking questions about the identity of each character. Of course Cathérine Frot, such a nice lady in real life, gives a remarkable performance as a domineering, heartless and vicious mother, especially with her two older children. Jacques Villeret, softer and more gentler does provide her with some support but is not as radical as his ideas. There are comic situations in the film, especially where Jules Sitruk is telling off God for having let his grandma die and asking him not to make the same mistake again and let his mother die asap because he hates her. He also has a thing going about the quantity of chocolate he is nibbling while praying and how much God should be letting him eat. Technical details of the film show that it was in part filmed in the UK, purportedly in the Dorset area, although the novel is set in the Nantes area close to Brittany. Certainly worth a watch, available on DVD in France with French only subtitles, the film will appeal to those who like filmed Novels and period pieces from the beginning of the 20th century onwards.