I actually watched My Mother's Castle (the unsatisfying translation of its French title, Le Château de ma mère) one night this week, but I have been too lazy to post about it until now. This may come as a shock to some readers, but this actually is a French movie subtitled in English (gasp!). It's a coming-of-age story about the son (Marcel) of a Marseilles school teacher (Joseph) and his wife (Augustine) at the turn of the century. The family spends an enchanting summer vacation in the countryside of Provence; and the mother decrees that they will come back more frequently, returning at Christmas and other holidays until Augustine decides that they go to the country every weekend, even sweet-talking the wife of the headmaster of Joseph's school into convincing her husband to give Joseph no classes on Monday mornings to make it possible.The movie has a predictable cast of characters, including the country-boy friend of Marcel, the highfalutin daughter of an alcoholic Marseilles newspaperman who also takes refuge in the country, the eccentric uncle, and the dull rectitude of French officialdom. I won't reveal what happens (for those who want to see the film), but the central conflict and its impact on Joseph strikes me as implausible and overblown, and the postscript detailing how life went to hell for everybody after those idyllic days in Provence seems out of place and just tacked on. Still, I can't dislike period-piece movies, and the cinematography of the Provence countryside is beautiful. Not a wonderful movie, but not a waste of time.
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