_Father and Sons_ is surprisingly entertaining. It is about a family of seekers: a father (Benoit Poelvoorde) with a mid-life crisis who turns to writing a novel; an elder son (Vincent Lacoste) who is heart-broken over being jilted, who finds comfort in his younger brother's Latin teacher (Anais Demoustier); and the said younger brother who has an unnerving fixation with spirituality and pretty classmate, roughly in that order. There is not much of a story, but the film is a collection of very memorable scenes. The very first scene has Poelvoorde's character trying to fit himself into a coffin; there is a tasteful scene in which Lacoste helps Demoustier puts on a dress; and finally, the younger brother (new comer Mathieu Capella) puts on a show to win the heart of his girlfriend.
Lacoste (_The Green Perfume_, _Smoking Causes Coughing_, _On a Magical Night_) is an incredibly charming presence, but if you ask me, the film belongs to Demoustier, so confident and sophisticated here, without a trace of her other characters' neurosis. In fact all the women characters are assured and all the men are lost puppies.
The director Felix Moati is barely in his mid-thirties. He is mostly known as an actor (most memorable as Demoustier's costar in _All About Them_). But his father appears to be a veteran TV movie director, and it has rubbed off on him. The camera work is only serviceable, but all the actors give charismatic performances, and a host of young familiar faces make cameo appearances (India Hair, Nadia Tereskiewicz, Lola Creton). Everyone seems to be having a good time. As do I, watching the film.
Lacoste (_The Green Perfume_, _Smoking Causes Coughing_, _On a Magical Night_) is an incredibly charming presence, but if you ask me, the film belongs to Demoustier, so confident and sophisticated here, without a trace of her other characters' neurosis. In fact all the women characters are assured and all the men are lost puppies.
The director Felix Moati is barely in his mid-thirties. He is mostly known as an actor (most memorable as Demoustier's costar in _All About Them_). But his father appears to be a veteran TV movie director, and it has rubbed off on him. The camera work is only serviceable, but all the actors give charismatic performances, and a host of young familiar faces make cameo appearances (India Hair, Nadia Tereskiewicz, Lola Creton). Everyone seems to be having a good time. As do I, watching the film.