Mom must be burned: a minor Dupontel (review)

The director of Adieu les idiots brings together siblings around their mother’s coffin. A very theatrical behind closed doors with an impeccable cast, where the dark humor is unfortunately diluted in a sentimentalism that is a little too wise.

By chaining Goodbye up there And Goodbye idiots, Albert Dupontel has surely seen himself become, in spite of himself, an established author, the type to bring together millions of spectators while satisfying the critics and winning Césars in spades – even though he refuses to come on stage to collect his prizes. He (knowingly?) dispelled any misunderstanding with Second Round, political farce/fable certainly failed, but radically poetic-crazy.

And just to cut short any projection on his ambitions, the filmmaker returns with the black comedy Mom must be burneda small object that blurs the lines a little more: in a family of undertakers, two sisters and a brother meet for their mother’s funeral. But the staff, on strike, refuse to put the body in the mortuary cold room and carry out the cremation…