The Godmother product reviews

The film has gone by a lot of names (i.e. La Daronne, Mama Weed) and has done remarkably well in European markets. Hitting New Zealand shores this July, The Godmother is an inter-niche crime-comedy-drama-satire. In a similar vein to Lucky Grandma, The Godmother brings a quizzically elegant yet basic fast-paced thriller. I use thriller in the loosest of terms here, with the mere speed at which the film accelerates absolutely boggling.

Isabelle Huppert is the shining beacon that makes this film watchable. She manages to put on an empathetic and sympathetic performance that feels comfortable and homely, then switches to an elegant and wily hustler, more than capable of mucking in and getting the work done but having a preference to keep her hands clean and use brains over brawn. It's this confounding but refreshing, near-schizophrenic amalgamation of personalities that Huppert manages to portray with little issue. It's also the element that gives The Godmother its awkward inter-genre placement; the tone of the film is all over the place.

Unable to decide on whether the flick is meant to be gritty and tense, or light and jovial, there is a great deal of flipping and flopping from one to the other. Characters are introduced and then ignored for most of the film purely serving as a plot device (or MacGuffin) to drive the story forward or add some conflict at that point in time, and events happen largely without consequence but occur at a faster and faster pace to create a fast pace, but all without an ounce of tension or suspense, leading to a final act that is rushed and fails to give the satisfying payoff.

Despite all of these issues in the writing, however, Huppert manages to salvage the film into something above average. With a jovial positive attitude that overflows with female empowerment, individuality, and self-reliance, Huppert creates a similar atmosphere to that of Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries or Agatha Raisin but with more youth and energy injected into it. The initial premise of working as an Arabic-to-French translator for a squad of Paris narcotics officers is an enticingly unique plot device, that could have formed a stronger story if only the screenplay and the runtime would have allowed for it.

The number of conveniences that save our Mama Weed from being caught is dizzying, and certainly makes things feel much more like a caper than building a criminal drug empire, but the basic solutions and conveniences that really keep things light-hearted and low stakes, despite the stings, car chases, and brutal off-screen violence. Jovial and positive is far away from the levels of humour you would traditionally expect from a comedy.

Plagued by a short runtime and one too many "antagonists" The Godmother has aimed for the moon and missed, but thanks to a brilliant performance from Isabelle Huppert, the flick has still landed among the stars.