It is my opinion that Isabelle Huppert is the finest actress to ever step infront of a camera. Beautiful, unusual, talented beyond reason and able to convey more with a simple look than most actors can communicate in an entire film. In short, she is brilliant. Even when her films lag -- she shines. <br /><br />Her interest in exploring the darker sides of humanity have created some of the most memorable performances put to the screen. The Piano Teacher shines as her best work thus far. <br /><br />I am always quite excited whenever one of her films makes it to the states. I was thrilled when I was able to secure a DVD copy of Ma Mere (yes, it was legally obtained!) prior to its release in the states. The film is just bad. From the production values to the editing to the screenplay. The actors are all quite good and do their best with what they are given --- and, that isn't much. <br /><br />Critics have shaken their fingers at Huppert for "finally going too far" in her exploration of transgressive characters, but I found this film to be more silly and comical than dark and shocking. In addition, Huppert is not even on the screen all that much. Which is really a lucky break for her! This is one of those films which makes me want to ask the film maker, his producers and his actors why they bothered at all. <br /><br />Tasteless, tacky, slow moving, un-erotic, dull and uncomfortable for all the wrong reasons - this film fails on almost every level other than the performances given by the actors. Being a French film, I do not think it was the intention of the director to create irony by his odd choice of playing "Happy Together" by the Turtles at the film's end when we see the son masturbating next to the dead body of his mother. However, I am hard pressed to think what else could have been meant by this choice. On the DVD there is an interview with this seemingly untalented artist in which he says that he used that selection of music because the mother and son could only be happy when they were together, but this makes no sense given the plot and ultimate outcome. <br /><br />Interestingly, the DVD also contains an alternate ending which would have been a "better" way to go, in my opinion. Rather telling, a bit of this alternate ending is used in the middle of the film ---- in the context of the mid-point of the film this scene made no sense. This leaves me to think the Honre hadn't a clue as to how he planned on putting this mess together. <br /><br />Perhaps the reason Huppert made this film was to spend some time on the Cannery Islands -- she would have done better to just take a vacation and should have skipped this film altogether. The choice of updating the novel from which this film is somewhat based to modern times and shifting it to these islands is odd. In fact, much of the film seems to be making a negative statement about tourists and their impact on nature. Fine, but how does this fit into the film? Answer: it doesn't. <br /><br />Ma Mere should not be dismissed pretentious, perverse and morally off-track. Instead, one can simply call Ma Mere a very bad cinematic mistake. But, why did Isabelle Huppert appear in this waste of good film stock? Sad.