Les Fleurs du Malle? Deflower power? Le White Punks on Cognac?
I suspect the French savor a scandal better than us Americans. For me this film was an interesting one, but might have been far more powerful with just a whiff of its forbidden fragrance? Eau d'affaire? In a way, I wanted the film to lean more towards licentiousness rather than lasciviousness.
Juvenile sex confusion is less alien to me than some of the notions of the bourgeoisie. Of course I understand the concept and am aware of the historical disgust tossed by the "true" sophisticates at the cheaper rich. Isn't the last name of the family in this, Chevalier, somehow connected to the idea of class and nobility?
A rigid sense of privilege just doesn't resonate well in California these days. But then neither do rites of passage, and that might be a big mistake for us. We've got teenagers in their thirties, and parents who want to be the kids' best pals...so that aspect in this film connected well.
The introductory scene of Clara with her sons is an energetic one, and immediately a playful, loose and even oddly sexy relationship is established. Whereas the free jazz featured in this film has aged very well, such freedom in the family order doesn't quite hit the right notes in my opinion. An ever-humbling opinion...as a father of five-year old twin boys.
So while I'll take even more freedom in my jazz, I'd prefer less in the latitude granted to the next generation. The film revolves around the relationship of mother and son, and Lea Massari was a revelation as the mother whose youth remains irrepressible. Meanwhile Benoit Ferreux has the tougher role. Not only is this his debut, he's the stand-in for Malle's remembrances evidently. On top of that he has to do this as a fifteen year-old playing a fifteen year-old written with an apparently much older soul.
I think the compassion/conflict of the son for his mother is true, agonizing and often beautiful here...but in watching the trailer for this film that came with the DVD, I almost wonder if Malle felt a need to take his memoirs and season them with something a bit more salacious? Something stronger than the salicylate remedy prescribed.
Peer pressure of French teen films??
Smaller things made this film even more enjoyable
1) the title alone, and the reason why Laurent and mother wind up at the hotel together
2) the camp scene, where we sense Laurent wants to atone for the absent father in his life
3) the forgery, and in general the rabid rebellion of the two elder hellion
4) the parallel scene of Laurent "catching" his father (a gynecologist) with a woman in a state of undress to later set against his mother's infidelity
6.5/10 Thurston Hunger
I suspect the French savor a scandal better than us Americans. For me this film was an interesting one, but might have been far more powerful with just a whiff of its forbidden fragrance? Eau d'affaire? In a way, I wanted the film to lean more towards licentiousness rather than lasciviousness.
Juvenile sex confusion is less alien to me than some of the notions of the bourgeoisie. Of course I understand the concept and am aware of the historical disgust tossed by the "true" sophisticates at the cheaper rich. Isn't the last name of the family in this, Chevalier, somehow connected to the idea of class and nobility?
A rigid sense of privilege just doesn't resonate well in California these days. But then neither do rites of passage, and that might be a big mistake for us. We've got teenagers in their thirties, and parents who want to be the kids' best pals...so that aspect in this film connected well.
The introductory scene of Clara with her sons is an energetic one, and immediately a playful, loose and even oddly sexy relationship is established. Whereas the free jazz featured in this film has aged very well, such freedom in the family order doesn't quite hit the right notes in my opinion. An ever-humbling opinion...as a father of five-year old twin boys.
So while I'll take even more freedom in my jazz, I'd prefer less in the latitude granted to the next generation. The film revolves around the relationship of mother and son, and Lea Massari was a revelation as the mother whose youth remains irrepressible. Meanwhile Benoit Ferreux has the tougher role. Not only is this his debut, he's the stand-in for Malle's remembrances evidently. On top of that he has to do this as a fifteen year-old playing a fifteen year-old written with an apparently much older soul.
I think the compassion/conflict of the son for his mother is true, agonizing and often beautiful here...but in watching the trailer for this film that came with the DVD, I almost wonder if Malle felt a need to take his memoirs and season them with something a bit more salacious? Something stronger than the salicylate remedy prescribed.
Peer pressure of French teen films??
Smaller things made this film even more enjoyable
1) the title alone, and the reason why Laurent and mother wind up at the hotel together
2) the camp scene, where we sense Laurent wants to atone for the absent father in his life
3) the forgery, and in general the rabid rebellion of the two elder hellion
4) the parallel scene of Laurent "catching" his father (a gynecologist) with a woman in a state of undress to later set against his mother's infidelity
6.5/10 Thurston Hunger