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Reviews Take Stock of 'Mit Liebe und Chansons,' A French Mother–Son Tragicomedy

Critics say the true-story portrait from 1960s Paris prioritizes feeling over restraint.

Overview

  • Leïla Bekhti stars as Esther, a Moroccan-origin Parisian mother devoted to her son Roland, who is born with a clubfoot.
  • Directed by Ken Scott, the film follows Roland into adulthood and threads his lifelong attachment to singer Sylvie Vartan’s music.
  • Frankfurter Rundschau highlights Vartan’s appearance as herself and describes the approach as a fan-shaped biopic.
  • Cicero Online praises the subject’s emotional pull but criticizes the execution as predictable and overly sentimental.
  • The 104-minute French release is being promoted by Neue Visionen and is known internationally as Once Upon My Mother.