A Madeline de Madeline

I disagree with the 1 Star review who says this movie has no reason to exist. Everyone is different right? I'd say mental illness is one of the more worthy themes to explore in a film. It's really well edited and shot. It's got some laughs. It's a bit erratic and dark and anxious, like the main character. The music and sound design is great. I'd say the 3 principal characters (Madeleine, her mum, the director) all give performances worthy of an Oscar nom. Yep, it's got an experimental vibe, it's kinda weird, but it's not eraserhead weird. Enjoy.

Is there a fine line between creative genius and mental/emotional issues? Our teen actress shows a range of rapidly changing emotions - good acting or pathology? If this script was a "coming of age" then most of the world's young teens growing up having to work to either contribute to their families or are barely surviving would only laugh at our portrayal of a teen's angst as spoiled immaturity & self centeredness. Alternatively I had considered some form of mental illness as an out, but when seeing similar behaviors coming out of her mom and her stage director that out didn't hold water. When the stage costuming dept. came up w/pig's heads (Why pig's?) I thought we were heading for a horror flick - no such luck.

It's one of those disturbing movies that makes you question if you're ever gonna finish it. The visuals, the sounds, the characters, almost nothing is easy on the eyes or ears...It's about a teenager with mental illness joining a theater class, her disturbing relationship with her mother, and her disturbing relationship with her theater teacher, and the disturbing dynamics involving the whole theater troupe. You can try to appreciate it as you go but it's not an easy watch. It might get more enjoyable if you achieve the first watch and then try for a second one focusing on its handling of mental illness and relationships while giving the crazy, incomprehensible scenes your own meaning. You know, like an ugly vase you finally begin to see the beauty of.

I had no idea what to expect from this, but it turned out to be such a visceral, well-done atmospheric and experimental film.

We were able to get this movie on DVD from our public library. My wife chose to skip it, not her kind of movie.

Watching it I didn't expect to "enjoy" it. In fact there is nothing enjoyable about it. However there is something compelling about it, maybe in the same way that we can be fascinated watching a train wreck. I couldn't stop watching it.

Don't take my comment wrong, I believe the filmmaker made exactly the movie she wanted to make. But she is of the experimental camp, a quote from her is "The beautiful thing about making art is the enormous possibility of failure." In other words make a movie you want and don't worry whether anyone will actually like it. Woody Allen is also that way but to me Allen makes much better movies.

Nothing seemed authentic to me and maybe that is the point. While I can give it reasonably high marks for the quality of what was produced, the movie, I cannot consider it a good movie. I watch movies mainly for a good story and and characters that I like. This one doesn't have either. It is more like watching a train wreck and marveling at the debris.