Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Hippolyte Giradot, Farida Ouchani, and Liliane Rovere
Distributor: Rialto Distribution
Runtime: 105 mins. Reviewed in May 2021
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“La Daronne” is French slang for “mother” (in the mafia sense of the word). Also called “Mama Weed”.
Acclaimed French actress, Isabelle Huppert, stars in this French, sub-titled film version of the 2019 award-winning, novel, “The Godmother”, written by Hannelore Cayre, who also co-wrote the film’s script. She plays the role of middle-aged, Patience Portefeux, an underpaid Franco-Algerian police interpreter, who works for the Ministry of Justice in Paris. Her late Tunisian born husband died young, and she lives with her two children in Paris. As a translator of Jewish and Arab descent, she works for the courts in Paris by translating police phone taps from Arabic to French for an anti-narcotics drug unit. The phone calls are between suspected drug dealers, and the police squad to investigate them is headed by Philippe (Girardot), a kind man with whom Patience has an affair. There are many people on both sides of the law, who give Patience relevant information about what, and who, drives the drug trade in Paris.
Patience narrowly prevents a drug bust that would have meant the arrest of the son of her mother’s favourite nurse (Ouchani), who happens to be the mother of one of the drug dealers being investigated. Patience moves compassionately to protect the nurse’s son for his mother’s sake and for that of her own mother, steals the hashish, and distributes it sternly as “La Daronne”. Patience becomes aware that the haul could be in her possession, and she already has a list of persons who are interested in buying. The Godmother is thereby born. Patience needs the money to look after her ageing mother (Rovere), who is in a costly rest home, and she has 20 years of financial debts to pay off, that have been bequeathed to her by her dead husband. Patience decides to thrust herself into the Parisian criminal underworld to cope, and she becomes a key player in its drug trade. As the feisty widow of a criminal, she knows what needs to be done, and she uses her inside knowledge of police strategy and the tactics of drug dealers to establish a lucrative crime network, to become an ambitious Parisian drug lord.
This is a surreal dark tale with black force, delivered in light comic style. The film mixes criminal activities with social commentary on bureaucracy, female empowerment, and racism. Patience dresses as a Muslim woman, which invites comment, and she has a Chinese landlady, Colette (Nadja Nguyen), who negotiates an agreement with her in strong defence of her rights. Situational comedy characterises Patience’s attempts to establish her fiefdom, while trying also to avoid detection. Philippe is on her trail, but has no idea of her real identity, until it all gets too tight for Patience. Her “other” life finally catches up with her, and her affair with Philippe comes to an end.
The film’s scripting reinforces the movie’s tension as its plot develops, and Huppert delivers a spirited performance as a police interpreter, turned criminal. It takes a good actress to walk the dividing line between an intelligent Justice Department operator and a savvy criminal drug lord, and she manages the transition with aplomb. It helps to have a dead criminal husband, an ailing demented mother who tolerates illegal activity, and Patience has a police-trained dog willing to attack any drug dealer who manages to get in her way. Overall, the film dramatically and comically explores what happens to a confident, independent woman who has decided to change her life, regardless of its consequences. Patience reinvents herself, and almost succeeds.
This is a smart film with Huppert heading the action with style. Solidarity of women and female empowerment are key issues. Patience asks Colette to hide her drug money in her apartment complex, and the film strongly supports female initiative. Mature women have a definite role to play in action movies like this one, the film says, when compassion and ambition are together.
Peter W Sheehan
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