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Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0037429212523
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 28, 2006
Running Time: 118 minutes
Sales Rank: 25762
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: October 17, 1971
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Editorial Review:
Description:
This is a jolly coming-of-age story about a 15-year-old boy named Laurent Chevalier who is growing up in bourgeois surroundings in Dijon, France. This is France in the mid-1950s rather than America in the 1990s. Thus, Laurent is unharmed by events which would irreparably shatter the self-esteem of a modern American adolescent: he gets drunk, he smokes, he has sex (including incestuous sex), he is smothered by his mother, he is ignored by his father, a priest makes a pass at him, he gets rheumatoid fever, etc. There's enough scandalous behavior in this film to make 100 made-for-TV movies, and yet this is a very happy and oddly innocent tale.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Somewhat entertaining, erotic, and ridiculous
A movie about sexual taboo and the needs of a 14 year old boy surrounded with a dysfunctional family. Although the movie is provocative, most of us know the needs and wants of a 14 year old boy, (we were all 14 at one time) but I guess sex education wasn't taught in France in 1971. One reviewer explained that the movie is very unrealistic and I agree. Laurent Chevalier is a seriously disturbed person who does unusual things. Never mind the fact that he lusts his own mother; Luarent is rude, obnoxious, and just flat out stupid just like the rest of his family. Not only do I consider that offensive but unrealistic as well, and the movie doesn't have to be realistic, it just has to make sense. This is just my opinion but if a movie doesn't make sense than I consider that a major turn off. On the positive side though the acting is decent, it's somewhat entertaining, and his mother (Lea Massari) is absolutely stunning.
Rating:  - Very Modern
This film was made in the 70s and touches on so many topics that would have made it a banned film in the US. For it's time, it is a masterpiece and a great film altogether. It's very edgy, but what do you expect from a French film shot in the 70s?
Rating:  - Annoyingly coy & phony
Malle was a master at anticipating the expectations of his audiences & giving them what they wanted with heaps & dollops of extra whipped cream & corn syrup. This films rings false from the first scene of the snotty schoolboys cutely scamming strangers on the street for contributions for war wounded then cutely stealing a Charlie Parker LP (& endlessly babbling on like future jazz criteeks on the wonders of modern jazz) then cutely stealing from their very sexy mom (it's a Malle movie - all women are sexy) then cutely & coyly pretending to compare their sexual endowments. And on & on goes Malle as though auditioning for membership in Hollywood jocularity & titillation.
No Catcher in the Rye this.
Rating: - You cannot be serious
OK i'll give it three stars because I was mildly entertained and intrigued with the concept of an Awkward skinny dweeb trying to get it on with his hot estranged mom with he whom he was reunited with during a vacation getaway in some rich snobby french resort..Now as for the noticeable flaws to this movie, What stood out was how physically awkward and uncoordinated the son was with just about everything including his dancing and his overall approach to women. Even his diolouge with people was blunt, rude, and unrealistic. Then his constant perverted curiouslity toward his Mom made me come to the overall conclusion that this kid was seriously disturbed or perhaps borderline retarded. And finally toward the end, I just found it absurd that his mom found the concept of incest acceptable for a one time situation. Then the last scene portrays the whole family together having a big laugh as if the incident between the Mom and the Son will never emotionally scar either at any point of their lives. Common is this normal, may be for the french it is I guess.
Rating: - Proof of Malle's Excellence as a Filmmaker
Only an excellent filmmaker would get away with making a charming coming-of-age comedy about incest. The movie is genuinely enjoyable and pretty funny. It dares the viewer to take it seriously. Much of the humor derives from the fact that the participants act like incest is the most normal thing in the world. Malle exorcising his Electra complex. A teenage boy, the shy, quiet, youngest of three is "broken in" by his hottie mommy. Gosh, those European moms are really affectionate. I wasn't offended as much as I thought it was silly. Of course, it only works because its mother/son and because she's a hot Italian babe. Great acting, excellent directing, smart sensitive script, & nice camerawork. Great jazz soundtrack.
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