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Review: Les Invites de Mon Pere (2010) ★★★½

FRANCE

&NewLine;<p><em>Les Invites de Mon Pere<&sol;em>&comma; or <em>My Father’s Guests<&sol;em>&comma; is a 2010 French comedy film&comma; written and directed by Anne Le Ny &lpar;who also makes a brief cameo&rpar;&period; The film follows a family amidst its struggles to adjust to two new houseguests&period; Lucien&comma; the now aged&comma; retired patriarch of the family&comma; lives by himself&period; He continues to write on political issues&comma; having once been a very prominent social activist&period; Out of the blue&comma; Lucien decides that he would like to take in a family of illegal immigrants as an act of selfless charity and progressive action&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>His son&comma; Arnaud&comma; who practices business law&comma; is immediately skeptical of the undertaking and advises against it&period; On the night that the new houseguests&&num;8217&semi; arrival&comma; the family gathers for a meal at Lucien’s apartment&period; Both of Lucien’s adult children&comma; Arnaud and Babette &lpar;as well as their two spouses&rpar; do not react well&period; They are all equally shocked to see a tall&comma; provocative Moldovan woman named Tatiana&comma; and her young daughter&comma; Sorina&period; Tatiana&&num;8217&semi;s good looks and ostensibly unrefined behavior confounds everyone&comma; except for Lucien&period; As the days go by and the family adjusts to the new presence&comma; they bring Tatiana&&num;8217&semi;s intentions into question&period; Additionally&comma; it becomes evident that Lucien’s feelings for Tatiana are not merely altruistic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Though <em><em>Les Invites de Mon Pere<&sol;em><&sol;em> is labeled as a comedy&comma; it puts more emphasis on the dramatic elements of a family torn apart by an unexpected intrusion&period; One wonders at the outset how a filmmaker can even make a comedy out of something as serious as refugees fleeing their homeland&comma; but the film manages to work in a few laughs without being flippant about the subject matter&period; The principal drawback of the script is that it seems to push the message that immigrants are crude&comma; amoral people just looking for a handout&period; The film attempts to combat this categorization within the last few minutes by emphasizing that Tatiana only ever wanted to provide a good life for her daughter&comma; but it feels like a weak attempt considering how she is portrayed throughout the majority of the narrative&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"wp-block-image wp-image-718"><figure class&equals;"aligncenter is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;05&sol;my-father-s-guests-300x200&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Les Invites de Mon Pere movie" class&equals;"wp-image-718" width&equals;"1200" height&equals;"800"&sol;><figcaption>Despite both wanting what is best for Lucien&comma; Babette and Arnaud approach their father&&num;8217&semi;s situation with vastly different feelings and political perspectives &lpar;My Father&&num;8217&semi;s Guests&comma; 2010&rpar;&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure><&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><em>My Father’s Guests<&sol;em> also seeks&comma; rather insufficiently&comma; to set up a duality between the bourgeois and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the Resistance&comma;” or those fighting for social justice&period; Arnaud is constantly accused of being selfish and far too obsessed with money&comma; and he defends himself by blaming his father&comma; who cut him off financially years prior and forced him to work harder to be successful&period; Meanwhile&comma; Babette&comma; who at the start of the film is a meek&comma; repressed woman&comma; decides to have an affair of her own with a coworker in a feeble attempt to compete with her father’s own sordid love life&period; And&comma; despite her hatred for Tatiana&comma; Babette never loses the qualities that made her Lucien’s favorite child&colon; her compassion and charitable nature&period; These qualities create a fracture between the two siblings&comma; whose difficult relationship with their father only makes their feelings toward the new houseguests even more complicated&period; The film never explores these dualities beyond the surface&comma; but they do create interesting parallels between the characters&comma; and often allow for the more dramatic moments in the film to take shape&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Despite the somewhat negative portrayal of illegal immigrants&comma; this is a very well made film&period; It is well-shot&comma; taking place mostly in the various apartments and workplaces of each of the family members&period; The writing&comma; while not spectacular&comma; is charming and occasionally funny&comma; and the performances are all believable given the circumstances of the plot&period; This is a highly entertaining film&comma; particularly if you are a fan of French cinema&comma; and&comma; even though it leans rather heavily on the drama&comma; it is still an enjoyable French comedy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h3 class&equals;"wp-block-heading"><em>Les Invites de Mon Pere<&sol;em> Movie Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&half; out of 5<&sol;h3>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>If you&&num;8217&semi;d like to watch <em>Les Invites de Mon Pere<&sol;em> &lpar;<em>My Father’s Guests&rpar;<&sol;em>&comma; it is available to rent or purchase <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B00KV8B988&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B00KV8B988&amp&semi;linkId&equals;5d5c2a422c4fb68ce63ef5709c3c49f8">via Amazon here<&sol;a>&period; For more film reviews like this one&comma; check out the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;">Philosophy in Film Homepage<&sol;a>&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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