Ulysse: Laetitia Masson touches the heart (review)

Inspired by her life and that of her disabled son, the director has created her most beautiful film since En avoir (or pas) which revealed her. Elodie Bouchez is once again masterful.

She emerged exactly 30 years ago with Have some (or not)certainly defeated that year at the César for first feature film by the steamroller The Three Brothers des Inconnus, but which immediately established her as a filmmaker to follow while launching the career of Sandrine Kiberlain. Had followed For sale, Love me with Johnny, Repentance with Isabelle Adjani… Since then, she has never stopped filming – films and series – but nothing has really been printed. Works that are too abstruse, too elusive.

Discovered at the end of the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes, Ulysses clearly marks the end of this cycle. Inspired by her own life and the relationship with her child (Alphonse Roberts who plays, remarkably, the title role), she recounts the fight of a mother moving heaven and earth so that her son, suffering from a genetic syndrome, can have a “normal” life, despite the obstacles put in his way by the institutions supposed to make his task easier.

The film turns out to be moving without ever forcing emotion. Thanks to the irresistible Elodie Bouchez in the role of the courageous mother of course. But also to the filmmaker’s ability to transcend her own story to tell a more universal story but anchored in this reality that she knows only too well. And it is this anchor that allows him to reconnect with what made E strong.to have (or not). Like the start of a new cycle.

By Laetitia Masson. With Elodie Bouchez, Alphonse Roberts, Stanislas Merhar… Duration: 1h37. Released June 17, 2026