Surviving My Mother

2007

Comedy / Drama

1
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 80%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 80%
IMDb Rating 5.7/10 10 289 289

Plot summary

Clara's mother is on her death bed as she tells her daughter that she regrets they are not closer. This revelation causes Clara to pursue a closer relationship with her own daughter, Bianca.

Director

Émile Gaudreault Photo
Émile Gaudreault

Top cast

Charles Papasoff Photo
Charles Papasoff as Sex Partner
Colin Mochrie Photo
Colin Mochrie as Rick
Véronique Le Flaguais Photo
Véronique Le Flaguais as Clara's Mother
Suzanna Lenir Photo
Suzanna Lenir as Vanessa Palumbo
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
816.34 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 22
1.48 GB
1920*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 20

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by SnoopyStyle 5 / 10

emotional damage not done well enough

Clara (Ellen David) is a dutiful mom, wife, and daughter. She scarifies to take care of her dying mother who hates her husband. Instead of being grateful, her mother tells her that she doesn't know her. She tries to change and reevaluate her own relationship with her daughter Bianca (Caroline Dhavernas). Only her promiscuous daughter is struggling with her own problems.Ellen David seems ill at ease in this role. She just seems more at ease with a comedic role. She does some serious emotionally damaging things in this movie. She really needs to suffer for those emotions.Caroline Dhavernas is simply too old to play this role. She's in her late 20s and that's what she looks like. The role starts at age 16 and goes till she's 21. She plays a sexually promiscuous role which would be so much shocking if she was closer to the actual age of the character.This movie deals with some serious family dysfunctions, some serious emotional damage, and some serious personal growth. It has a couple of interesting scenes, but it just doesn't flow together as a compelling story.
Reviewed by MagicJack55 6 / 10

Good actors, decent directing, confused script

You will have mixed feelings about this movie. However, the remaining feeling for me is frustration : the cast and crew obviously has a lot of talent, but it wasn't used to its full potential.This movie started pretty well, and the intrigue of Caroline Dhavernas character grew on me. It got me interested towards the end. Then, they ruined it. Boring, both the content and the way they revealed it.The rest of the movie goes into too many directions. They tried to fit too many themes in one movie. While the other characters held their part well, they should have focused more on the mother and the daughter instead of wasting time on many scenes that didn't really add to the main plot.The writer was obviously confused : he didn't know what ending to choose. He didn't have a clear idea from the start and it showed. Or maybe something bad happened during the shooting that prevented the original idea to be carried on the screen, but alas, we will never know.
Reviewed by christian94 8 / 10

Great dialog, directing and appropriate acting

Crisp dialog (even in the two deleted scenes) save the overlong suppository scenes that is supposed to be an example of everyday banality contrasting Bianca's frugality, is the backbone of this fine family drama. Clara, has a dying mother (played brilliantly by Véronique Le Flaguais) which she took care of her whole life. Her husband is a household fixture and her lovely daughter, Bianca, is 21-year-old, smart and likable. She is slated to soon finish university and become all her mother ever wanted (her) to be.The grandmother is openly bitter and refractive, yet Clara and Bianca have some unvoiced dissatisfactions of their own. As Clara looks at her mother and realizes that, although they have spent so much time together, her mother does not really know her, she tries to avoid the same mistake with her own daughter -- but what do you do when your daughter doesn't want to open up? Caroline Dhavernas as Bianca is sincere, secretive and seductive and brings us into her well-written world of personal discovery. Her acting paired with Ellen David as Clara come together for an ending that may have seemed forced otherwise. The directing and editing are notable as many little details enhance the picture considerably and makes this relatively simple story stand out.Content wise we find exploration of family, sexuality, death, freedom and interesting philosophies about multi-faceted people, unconditional love and aesthetics. In this balancing act, there is a fresh seldom seen positivity in morally questionable choices. The movie does not fall into the trap of right and wrong, but opens up many mental doors in interesting and challenging ways.A fine picture despite the current low IMDb ratings. Give it a try and correct this aberration. For all involved in this project, I have sincere admiration.Bon cinema !
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