Meres et Filles (Hidden Diary)

"Mères et filles" takes place in a small coastal town in Arcachon, France. Audrey, pregnant and now working in Canada, comes back to her parents Martine and Michel's home. During the two-week vacation she stays in her grandfather's house nearby that has been empty since he passed away.

There Audrey stumbles upon her grandmother's cooking recipe and diary hidden in the kitchen. Her grandmother Louise had suddenly disappeared about 50 years ago, leaving young Martine and her brother, and Audrey's mother Martine still doesn't want to talk about it.

"Mères et filles" is not a mystery. It is about the stories of three women Audrey (Marina Hands, "Lady Chatterley" "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), Martine (Catherine Deneuve) and Louise (Marie-Josée Croze, "The Barbarian Invasions" "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"). The best part of the film is the sizzling tension between the daughter and the mother. Audrey and Martine barely conceal what they feel about each other. Their strained relationship becomes more visible during the dinner scene, where harsh words are exchanged.

Instead of employing the "Babel"-like multiple narratives, the French-Canadian film opted for flashbacks that may or may not reflect the truth. The border between the past and the present is blurred when Audrey "sees" (and "meets") a beautiful housewife Louise, who lives in the 50s-ish world that reminds us of Todd Haynes' "Far From Heaven." Director Julie Lopes-Curval's slightly gimmicky camera work suggests that the always restrained "Louise," whose hobby her husband would not approve of, could be Audrey's imagination.

The idea is intriguing, I admit, but I am not sure this is the best way to tell the Louise's story (if ever there is), or Audrey and Martine's one for that matter. The intense mother-daughter relationship between Audrey and Martine and their hidden resentment is quite convincing, but these tales of the present and the past, put together, somehow do not go together well. "Mères et filles" avoids following a conventional storyline, which is fine with me, but each character looks too emotionally detached and cold. Louise, Martine and Audrey represent three generations of women and their plights, I understand the idea, but as to their personalities or who they are, they remain curiously vague and even generic.

Among the supports, Martine's understanding husband (great job from Michel Duchaussoy) is an interesting character, but the slow-moving film crams too much into the script, spending too much time on unnecessary episodes (including Audrey's boyfriend). It is regrettable that with the impressive and talented cast, this could have been a much more moving and thought-provoking drama.

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