RETOUR CHEZ MA MERE (France 2016)****
Directed by Eric Lavaine

Review by Gilbert Seah

There is one good reason to see the new comedy that is a number one hit in France this year. The reason is Josiane Balasko, France’s favourite actress and indeed mine as well. Her most famous films are GAZON MAUDIT (FRENCH TWIST), THE HEDGEHOG, FRENCH FRIED VACATION and TROP BELLE POUR TOI. She won the Cesar for Best Script for her film GAZON MAUDIT. Balasko is a comedy heavyweight and she plays ‘la mere’ in the movie, carrying the movie and making the audience laugh out loud many times when she appears.

The title gives away the plot of this new charming French comedy. Forty-year-old Stéphanie (Alexandra Lamy) is compelled to return home to live with her mother (Balasko), after she loses everything her job, her husband and all her money. She is welcomed with open arms: she can enjoy the over-heated apartment, Francis Cabrel stuck on replay, furious games of Scrabble and precious maternal advice on how to sit at the table and how to live her life. Both women must exercise infinite patience to cope with this new situation. And when the rest of the clan turns up for dinner, settling of scores and family secrets follow on one from the other in a most joyful way.

Besides the comedy that works, the film’s charm comes from the story derived from real life. Everybody has a family of sorts and they all meet, sometimes occasionally for dinner. North Americans have Thanksgiving and Christmas, so they can relate. The film also digs deep in the heart. When the sibling quarrel and fight at the dinner table, mother finally remarks for them to go home repeating that this was the worst night of her life. Lavaine’s (BARBECUE) film is able to evoke drama though occasionally dousing the film with a little sentimentality.
Besides the obvious family dinner gathering, there are other prize comedic set-ups. One is the mother trying to get away from Steph to be with her lover who stays in the upstairs apartment. She tells Steph she is taking the train to Avignon, but Steph insists on accompanying her to la gare, with mother trying to lose her at every move.

This is the kind of French comedy like THE WOMAN IN RED, THE DINNER GAME. TAXI and LA CAGE AUX FOLLES that Hollywood will remake into successful hits. RETURN TO MOM’S is an ideal fit. Like all the other originals, the French version is the best. And no one can replace Balasko as the mother.

RETOUR CHEZ MA MERE takes a bit of time to get on its feet, perhaps a third of its running time. But besides being a comedy, it is foremost a film about family. With this strong grounding, the film can not go wrong. Lavaine’s film turns out to be an extremely entertaining crowd pleaser and it is no surprise it became a hit in its home country.. And in the words of Lavaine during an interview: “This is a story of a woman who has decided that there’s more to life than kids, even if they’re moving back in forty years after making them.”

Clip (en Francais pas sous-titres): http://cineuropa.org/vd.aspx?t=video&l=en&did=306750

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