
Jean-Luc is an established gerontologist who can do no wrong; he runs a private clinic specialising in anti-ageing treatments. Honoured for his work in this field, he throws a garden party at his home. It is during this social event that his father suddenly reappears, back after a long exile. A physician, he had left decades earlier without any apparent reason to practice in Africa. He moves into his son's home for several days, phlegmatically observing everything with an eni... (Full plot summary below)
Enjoy FREE movies and series with your Prime (USA) subscription or when you start a 30-day free trial!
Links compiled using automated software. Availability of offers subject to change / might be region specific / out of date.
Jean-Luc is an established gerontologist who can do no wrong; he runs a private clinic specialising in anti-ageing treatments. Honoured for his work in this field, he throws a garden party at his home. It is during this social event that his father suddenly reappears, back after a long exile. A physician, he had left decades earlier without any apparent reason to practice in Africa. He moves into his son's home for several days, phlegmatically observing everything with an enigmatic smile. He peruses Jean-Luc's life and environment with cruel objectivity. The arrival of this interloper father, who everyone thought had disappeared for good, shatters the family microcosm: Jean-Luc doesn't know how to take him, as if the memory - or the resentment - was nothing but lost time; his wife becomes fond of this highly unconventional man; after first refusing to deal with him, Jean-Luc's younger brother strikes up a modest bond with him.
Leave your thoughts about How I Killed My Father.
| The New RepublicStanley KauffmannFontaine's direction, especially her agreeably startling use of close-ups and her grace with a moving camera, creates sheerly cinematic appeal. |
| Boston GlobeTy BurrPolite but emotionally devastating, How I Killed My Father throws such questions out like smart bombs, and they detonate long after the end-credits have rolled. |
| Dallas Morning NewsJane SumnerTrés French, trés fascinating psychodrama. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertNot about murder in the literal sense, although that seems a possibility. It is about a man who would like to kill his father, and who may have been killed spiritually by his father. |
| Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumThe script is a steady accretion of small stabs to the heart, propelling the gorgeous performances of Berling, Regnier, and especially the 76-year-old French cinema veteran Bouquet, whose every faint smile is killing. |
| Arizona RepublicRichard NilsenThe film is about the relationships rather than about the outcome. And it sees those relationships, including that between the son and his wife, and the wife and the father, and between the two brothers, with incredible subtlety and acumen. |
| CompuserveHarvey S. KartenA complex psychological drama about a father who returns to his son's home after decades away. |
| Los Angeles Daily NewsBob StraussBrings a rare, clinically specific sense of moral complexity and humanistic sympathy to the usual regimen of finger-pointing and exposure. |
| Sacramento BeeJoe BaltakeThis is a fascinating film because there is no clear-cut hero and no all-out villain. |
| Cinema em CenaPablo VillaçaA bela construção de personagens merece elogios. |