An Important Issue Makes an Interesting Movie
Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 12/14/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"DES PARENTS PAS COMME LES AUTRES is a fine little French film that dates back to 2001. A film not at all limited to the gay audience it is trying to attract, SAME SEX PARENTS is an excellent movie for the general public, especially now in the current struggles for same sex marriages, relationships acknowledgement, and court decisions both here in this country and throughout the world.
Olympia (Louise Monot) is a teenager who was born to a lesbian mother Martine (Elisabeth Bourgine) by agreement with a gay male friend Antoine (Samuel Labarthe). Now that the difficult high school years have come, Olympia finds her small town school full of rumors about her 'dyke' mother and her mother's lover Do (Donatienne Dupont) and she is the brunt of disparaging remarks. Her best friend Marion (Fanny Florido) is supportive as is her new boyfriend Leo (Lucas Bonnifait), but Olympia's mother is afraid to talk about her sexuality, a fact which ultimately drives Olympia from home in a move to Paris where she has a good relationship with her birth father and his lover Christophe. With incidents and discussions Olympia grows into a changed young lady who begins to see that same sex parents in the big understanding city of Paris are much different than the problems associated with living in the small town where her mother struggles for happiness.
The script by Sandra Jove is very fine and the direction by Laurence Katrian is excellent. If the movie at first seems off putting (how could a teenage girl in contemporary France not be accepting of the lifestyle of her mother while having no problem with her father's lifestyle?), the movement of the story has some important information and suggestions that should prove helpful to those who have encountered debates about same sex relationships. And besides, this is simply a very good story delivered by excellent actors. Grady Harp, December 2004"