![]()
|
|
|
CONSENSUS
How I Killed My Father is a penetrating character study of father-son ties.
CAST & CREW
Michel Bouquet, Charles Berling, Natacha Regnier
Directed by Anne Fontaine
more...
SYNOPSIS
Forty year-old Jean-Luc is a successful gerontologist living in the wealthy Parisian suburb of Versailles with his beautiful wife Isa. more...
MPAA RATING
Not Rated
RUNTIME
1 hour, 40 minutes
RELEASE DATES
Theatrical: Aug 23, 2002
RELEASE COMPANY
New Yorker Films
GENRE
Dramas, Foreign Films, French, Mystery, Thriller, Murder, Fathers And Sons
------------------------------
SUBMIT/EDIT ARTICLE
SUBMIT USER REVIEW
FORUM
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Page:
1 | 2   |
|
 "Bravely explores the psychic damage inflicted on Jean-Luc by a withholding, then absent parent."
-- Erica Abeel, FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
"This is a fascinating film because there is no clear-cut hero and no all-out villain."
-- Joe Baltake, SACRAMENTO BEE
"A compelling French psychological drama examining the encounter of an aloof father and his chilly son after 20 years apart."
-- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH
"Sad, yet interesting."
-- Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, THEMOVIECHICKS.COM
"Exquisitely nuanced in mood tics and dialogue, this chamber drama is superbly acted by the deeply appealing veteran Bouquet and the chilling but quite human Berling."
-- David Elliott, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
"Fontaine indulges her signature style, creating a carefully measured film -- the kind whose impact slowly sneaks up on its audience and haunts them long after leaving the theatre."
-- Barbara Goslawski, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE
"Fontaine masterfully creates a portrait of two strong men in conflict, inextricably entwined through family history, each seeing himself in the other, neither liking what he sees."
-- Arthur Lazere, CULTUREVULTURE.NET
"It's a tour de force, written and directed so quietly that it's implosion rather than explosion you fear."
-- Jean Lowerison, SAN DIEGO METROPOLITAN
"In the disturbingly involving family dysfunctional drama How I Killed My Father, French director Anne Fontaine delivers an inspired portrait of male-ridden angst and the emotional blockage that accompanies this human condition"
-- Frank Ochieng, MOVIE EYE
"Brings a rare, clinically specific sense of moral complexity and humanistic sympathy to the usual regimen of finger-pointing and exposure."
-- Bob Strauss, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
"[T]he pleasure is in watching veteran star Bouquet and the versatile Berling go at it -- they even seem to look alike."
-- Luke Y. Thompson, NEW TIMES
"The film works at a depth that would drown Hollywood."
-- The Wolf, IOFILM.CO.UK
|
|
 "How I Killed My Father is one of those art house films that makes you feel like you're watching an iceberg melt -- only it never melts."
-- Jeffrey M. Anderson, SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
"Watching these two actors play against each other so intensely, but with restraint, is a treat."
-- Marta Barber, MIAMI HERALD
"Avoiding simplistic psychological 'explanations', The Way I Killed My Father scrutinizes the Oedipal father-son conflict with icy assurance."
-- Tom Dawson, BBCI FILMS
"Whether writer-director Anne Fontaine's film is a ghost story, an account of a nervous breakdown, a trip down memory lane, all three or none of the above, it is as seductive as it is haunting."
-- Duane Dudek, MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
"The perfect vehicle for Berling and Bouquet, and both are superb."
-- Ken Fox, TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE
"A complex psychological drama about a father who returns to his son's home after decades away."
-- Harvey S. Karten, COMPUSERVE
"Chillingly prosaic."
-- Kim Linekin, EYE WEEKLY
"Trademark American triteness and simplicity are tossed out the window with the intelligent French drama that deftly explores the difficult relationship between a father and son."
-- John A. Nesbit, CULTUREDOSE.NET
"An intelligent, moving and invigorating film."
-- John Patterson, L.A. WEEKLY
"A chilly, brooding but quietly resonant psychological study of domestic tension and unhappiness."
-- Frank Swietek, ONE GUY'S OPINION
"How I Killed My Father would be a rarity in Hollywood. It's an actor's showcase that accomplishes its primary goal without the use of special effects, but rather by emphasizing the characters -- including the supporting ones."
-- Jeff Vice, DESERET NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY
Click to read the article.
-- David Perry, CINEMA-SCENE.COM
|
|
|
FRESH 87%
Avg. Rating: 7.8/10 |
"Bouquet gives a performance that is masterly."
-- Jonathan Curiel, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"This is a harrowing movie about how parents know where all the buttons are, and how to push them."
-- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"A solid examination of the male midlife crisis."
-- Richard James Havis, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
"Fontaine's direction, especially her agreeably startling use of close-ups and her grace with a moving camera, creates sheerly cinematic appeal."
-- Stanley Kauffmann, NEW REPUBLIC
"Rather less than the sum of its underventilated père-fils confrontations."
-- Dennis Lim, VILLAGE VOICE
"Cold, nervy and memorable."
-- Patrick Z. McGavin, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Viewing this underdramatized but overstated film is like watching a transcript of a therapy session brought to humdrum life by some Freudian puppet."
-- Elvis Mitchell, NEW YORK TIMES
"A top-notch study of family angst."
-- V.A. Musetto, NEW YORK POST
"The film is about the relationships rather than about the outcome. And it sees those relationships, including that between the son and his wife, and the wife and the father, and between the two brothers, with incredible subtlety and acumen."
-- Richard Nilsen, ARIZONA REPUBLIC
"Rarely, indeed almost never, is such high-wattage brainpower coupled with pitch-perfect acting and an exquisite, unfakable sense of cinema."
-- Andrew O'Hehir, SALON.COM
|
|
|
|
| Page:
1 | 2 |
|
* Who are the Approved Tomatometer Critics?
* Mouse over a tomato icon for a publication's original rating. Original rating not available for every publication.
* In fairness to critics whose last name begins with a letter at the end of the alphabet, certain pages are sorted in reverse order, z-a.
* Certain "How I Killed My Father" article data provided by the Movie Review Query Engine.
|
|
|
|
lepetitchat78
| If I could be anywhere: "Back in Cuba, sitting Indian style on the Malecon. Mojito in one hand, handsome revolutionary in the other." |
|
|
|
Log In 
