Watch My Son For Free

One of my all time favorites.

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This review may contain slight spoilers.This is the heartbreaking story of Julien, a young and bright schoolboy from a seemingly normal family. Julien's dad is a hard-working academic at university, his mother a great cook who keeps the household going, and Julien's older sister is about to enter university. We quickly learn that all is not well. Julien's manipulative mother has a major issue with her son growing up and would like to keep him at home, as hers alone. When he starts rebelling and questioning her actions, she starts unraveling, mentally and even physically assaulting Julien. She clearly has serious psychological problems.His indifferent, remote father is a busy man, who in his spare time escapes home by playing tennis with his mates. Julien's dad turns a blind eye, even when his sister complains to him about the way her spiteful and controlling mother is treating her younger brother. Things get worse, with Julien threatening to commit suicide. Then one afternoon, it all comes to a point...This is a depressing, unsettling and somewhat manipulative psychological drama with outstanding performances by Julien (Victor Séveax) and his hateful, selfish mother (Nathalie Baye). Great camera-work and excellent, foreboding soundtrack too. 8/10.

Believable heart wrenching horrible unhealthy story about a mother too much in love with her son, smothering him with over-protection, and going even further. 12 year old Julien had his mother as best friend, or rather the opposite. He is his mother's best friend. She does not know when to let go, and she does not know when to give him the needed space, not understanding growing up and going into puberty, and the trauma the boy feels by this.Extremely well played by the two main persons. The mother is a mother from hell, played by a frightening Nathalie Baye. The father is ignorant to what goes on, being distant as many are. Julien, brilliantly played by Victor Sevaux, tries all he can to get away from home for a day or two, trying to make his mother love him less. It's painful to watch. When his sisters addresses that Julien is not happy and well, she is ignored.When mother finds a love letter to her son in the mail from his girlfriend Alice, she opens it with no hesitation, and reacts as jealous as it's possible to do. The sister tells, and he finds the letter shred to pieces in the junk. He's not allowed to do anything without the mother approving and telling in beforehand. And when he decides to show appreciation, she reacts like a psycho.But after a while Julien is driven into a corner, and decides to act...

a mother. her family. and her son. scenes from a war. picture of a disorganized family. more than a film, a scale of tension, emotions, desires. because the possessive mother, the disobedient son, the absent father are only masks of a society. the refuges - football, grand mother piano lessons, the girl friend , career are fragile refuges. essence - nuances of fear. the fear of mother for future failure of Julien. the fear of father front of every day events. the fear of son , like fear of each teenager to be out of circle. and the seed of fear - different definition of love. nothing else. only a precise beautiful performance of each actor and the subtle picture of each piece of crisis. a cold movie. but suitable for everyday bruises.

A mother's love for a son that is growing up too fast before her eyes and her refusal to admit to the fact, is something no one is prepared for, yet, the woman at the center of this story decided to keep Julien all for herself. There are hints that something more sinister is going on in this strange relationship, or even incest, when the mother refuses to let her son have a normal life.Julien, a straight A student, starts losing his interest in school, as well as in playing the piano. His grandmother has taught him from the beginning; he shows talent for playing the instrument, but he refuses to go on. His grades begin to plunge, something of concern for his teacher at the high school he attends. Julien's father, at the same time, is too preoccupied to see what is happening to the young man.At the same time, this mother instead of showing her maternal love, displays a cruelty like we haven't seen in films in quite a while. The relationship, as it is, can't go on like this. The father of Julien doesn't seem to realize what is going on, or perhaps he refuses to believe what her daughter points out to him. The situation, we know, can't stay the way it is because of its foundation. This mother doesn't want to let go and her love for Julien turns into a tragedy for the whole family.We watched this film on cable recently. It probably didn't get an American release based on the contents, but who knows if it ever seen in this country. Directed with style by Martial Fougeron, who co-wrote the script with Florence Eleakim, this is a disturbing film, clearly not targeted for the general public. A Belgian-French co-production, the film surprises because of the way the creators have delved under the characters to show a different kind of relationship between a mother and a son like it has not been seen in a while.Natalie Baye, a French actress, proved a surprise in her take of the mother. Ms. Baye, who has spent her life in front of a camera, shows to be a natural for the woman on the screen. Ms. Baye shows an uncanny intelligence in her performance that is never a caricature of the tormented soul she is supposed to be. Also notable, the young actor Victor Sevaux, whose luminous presence makes Julien comes across as perhaps he was supposed to have been this boy the brilliant team behind this film had in mind. Oliver Gourmet, Emmanuelle Riva, and Marie Kremer, are also seen in supporting roles.Take a chance in watching this film because Martial Fougeron and Natalie Baye make a wonderful contribution to this film that will be hard to forget.