Director : Christophe HonoréActors : Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel, Emma de Caunes, Joana Preiss, Jean-Baptiste Montagut, Dominique Reymond, Olivier Rabourdin, Philippe DuclosFeature film, Fiction , Drama, AdolescenceProduction language : French Nationality : Majority French (Portugal, Spain) French release : 6/1/04 Runtime : 1h 50mn Current status : Released Associate production company : Gemini FilmsFrench distribution : Gemini FilmsFilm export/Foreign Sales : Gemini Films Synopsis Pierre, 17, lives with his grandmother where he receives a religious upbringing. Over summer vacation, he joins his parents in the Caribbean islands and is exposed to the unbridled behavior of a couple who hate and tear each other apart.
After his father’s sudden death, his mother, Hélène, initiates him into a world of perversion. Although aware that his mother’s life is one steeped in alcohol and sex, the young man still adores her, convinced she’s a pure creature who’d been obliged to live with a disgusting man.
Hélène takes him along on her outings, introduces him to Réa, a young and attractive woman, who happens to be her mistress. Via Réa, Hélène leads him into a life of orgies and debauchery. He discovers the ecstasy of vice in which anxiety, shame, pleasure, disgust and respect all mingle.
Hélène decides to go away and during her absence Pierre finds love and a kind of balance with Hansi, a young woman who’d been close to his mother. But Pierre’s mother returns. She’s reached the lower depths and gets her son to carry out their incestuous fantasy that results in death.
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