Vraiment sublime !!!

This crazy quilt of a movie has something going on in every scene --an idea, a surprise, an experiment. But there's a method to the madness. Desplechin is exploring the link between comedy and tragedy, how the latter always lurks underneath the former, and vice versa. The film is both outrageous and subtle, abrasive and tender. It hangs together through the theme of adoption, which is a form of assuming responsibility for that which is not innately yours, a shift in perspective.

A very strong first act with some great performances and natural and intriguing relationships between the characters. Ismael is the most endearing, truthful to a fault and occasionally vulgar but never malicious. The film has a few melodramatic and unbelievable scenes in the later half and it begins to lose focus.

Great performances, but incredibly overlong.

There are so many moments in it I love and ideas I love, and I want to love it as a whole but something about the aesthetic and the way Desplechin pulls it all together just bugs me :(

DNF

"An extravagant doodle dealing with family and mental illness, this is Arnaud Desplechin's most straightforward and scattershot film to date." - Ed Gonzalez

Terrific film. A bit saddened that Deneuve (who just has a certain radiance about her even - especially, perhaps - now in her more advanced years) had such a small part, but this was just very impressive. I think Desplechin's stylistic quirks work better in this one than in Un Conte Noël, but perhaps I just need to see all his films over again after I' ve watched them all. Either way the direction and editing was great here, plus Amalric is a certified bawss and the soundtrack was excellent.

Combines the technical and formal postmodern adventurism of Tarantino with the sharply drawn, emotionally cruel characterization of Baumbach -- it's as astonishing as it is devastating.

A difficult film to rate. I feel that Desplechin aspires to make a great film, and that he has the potential to do so. But, judging from the two of his films I have seen, I don't think he has quite delivered thus far. In spite of everything, a kind of coldness seems to remain about the characters, that is to say, they seem to have been coldly drawn.