A Dona do Barato

My Review- The Godmother, or La Daronne, or Mama Weed My Rating 8/10 This very entertaining French film amazingly wasn't even considered in submissions for Best International Feature movie and as far as I'm concerned it's far superior than the winning Oscar movie from Denmark "Another Round." It may sound an odd description in describing La Daronne or "Mama Weed "as an elegant ,touching, and humorous film about a glamorous drug dealer but that's what it really is .

The wonderful and still beautiful French Actress Isabelle Huppert who was nominated for an Oscar in 2017 ( becoming one of only 7 actresses to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for a French Speaking role) for Elle stars as Patience Portefeux an underpaid, overworked French-Arabic translator in charge of phone surveillance for a narcotics police unit uses her insider knowledge and police resources to build her own crime network.

The film script of The Godmother is written by Hannelore Cayre, the author of the original novel, La Daronne, which took out the 'Quais du Polar', a prize awarded annually to the best crime or thriller novel by a European author in French or a French translation.

It's skilfully directed by Jean Paul Salomé and has a great supporting cast including Hippolyte Girardot as the Police Chief in charge of trying to apprehend Mama Weed who is much closer to him than he really thinks . Also a lovely performance by Liliane Rovére as Mme Portefeux the mother of Patience who is in aged care .

There's a cute local reference in the film when Patience is describing a photo on her wall to Sydney in this film about our New Year Fireworks Celebrations , which shows how famous our annual New Year Celebration is.

This is a very entertaining film and well worth a look I especially loved the Christmas display at Galeries Lafayette where Mama Weed and her 2 daughters "go shopping with her mother."

While watching it. It's not only comedy, it has dramatic moments, also. Isabelle Huppert is amazing, and manages to cover the plot holes. In the end, one may not care if the whole thing is credible or not, good acting makes it an overall entertaining movie.

Nothing works in this movie. The scenario is bad, really bad. And again Isabelle Huppert is not doing well to make it better. Save your time, do watch it!

The chameleon and always infallible Isabelle Huppert becomes a queen of drug trafficking among the traffickers of Paris in this ¨police comedy¨ or ¨thriller with hints of humor¨ depending on how you look at it . In the film Huppert plays a Patience Portefeux , a discreet translator in charge of phone surveillance for a narcotics police unit , from the Parisian anti-drug squad and whose chief - Hippolyte Girardot- turns out to be her lover . She goes over to the other side when, by some twist of fate, a loot of hashish falls into her hands . Isabelle Huppert is 50% Cop 50% Dealer 100% Pure !

Based on the novel by Hannelore Cayre , the story centers around Patience Portefeux, an underpaid , overworked French-Arabic translator then she realizes she knows the mother of one of the drug dealers, Patience decides to cover for him and gets herself more and more deeply involved in the world of drug trafficking. Soon, she is using her insider knowledge and police resources to build her own crime network and earns the name Mama Weed. Mama Maria or Mama Weed offers a sharp look into the world of drug trafficking, skillfully blending irony , drama and suspense. Huppert gives a splendid acting as a translator working for the police gets involved in the other side of drug dealing . Huppert explained that "this character is quite a gift for an actress" , she is Patient, a widow with unfortunate life who becomes a double agent, a role out of the ordinary , which was created by the novelist Hannelore Cayre based on his own experiences as a criminal lawyer.

It displays an intriguing and adequate musical score by notorious French composer Bruno Coulais. As well as atmospheric , adequate cinematography by cameraman Julien Hirsch . The motion picture was well directed and written -along with Hannelore Cayre- by Jean Paul Salomé . Craftsman Jean-Paul Salomé served as president of the ARP (the French Authors', Directors', and Producers' Guild) , has won several awards and has an interesting and prestigious career , first working as a trainee for director Claude Lelouch, who hired him during the production of his film ¨Bolero¨. He went on to direct two documentaries, ¨L'Heure d'aimer¨ in 1983 and ¨La Petite Commission¨ in 1984, both of which were selected at numerous film festivals . After making his first feature-length film for television , he directed the feature film ¨Les Braqueuses¨ in 1993. Five years later, he directed ¨Tourist Trap¨, which tells the story of a group of tourists who get lost in the middle of nowhere in the United States. In 2000, he directed a new cinematic adaptation of the myth of Belphegor,¨Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre¨. In 2004, he directed an updated adaptation of the iconic tale of the gentleman thief , ¨Arsène Lupin¨, followed, in 2007, by ¨Female Agents¨with a French star-studded cast . And¨The Chameleon¨, which was shot in the United States, was released in 2010. His most recent feature, ¨Playing Dead¨ was released in December 2013. And this ¨Mama Weed¨ (2020) at his best . Rating : 7/10 . The yarn will appeal to Isabelle Huppert fans.

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the movie! I thought the plot was fresh and unique, and Izabelle Ruppert was magnificent. Considering she was 66 at the time of filming, she also looks amazing!

Now about what have not worked for me in this movie. At the beginning, the movie presented us with moral philosophical dilemmas, and as I started to become emotionally involved with the characters, it made a 180 degree turn and became a comedy. Don't get me wrong, I love comedies, and there were some really funny moments where I laughed out loud, but I honestly struggled the whole movie and with how to perceive it, as a comedy or as a crime thriller. I definitely could not relate to the main character anymore and really could not root for her. Honestly, at the end I was rooting against the mama weed hoping the logic/simple deduction would prevail.

Other things that bothered me are the plot holes that made police look really really stupid and drug dealers naive and funny! Because of that, you could not really call this movie a crime thriller, even though there were all the ingredients for it. In other words, there were no thrilling moments to make me sit at the edge of my seat and bite my nails. As soon as there were some signs for it, scenes were turned into a joke. Again, this was due to the problem of mixing the jenres. It would have been better if the movie stayed with the comedy crime theme without involving very poignant and serious moments.

The movie has touched many important topics, including relationships with elderly parents, immigrants trying to survive to have a better live in a new country, but I almost felt like there could have been two movies made out of this one. See it for yourself!