Some films don't know how to start, others don't know how to end. Then there are those that can't even settle on a title.
André Téchiné's inert, amorphous, true-life crime story has one title for the French release and another for the Anglophone version, and each reflects one of the dead-end narrative approaches the film takes. The French title, "L'Homme Qu'on Aimait Trop" ("The Man Who Was Loved Too Much"), describes the "Adele H"-like obsessive love that dominates the middle of the story. The English title, "In the Name of My Daughter," sums up the turgid courtroom dramatics that make up the ending. Neither story line has much to do with the other, nor are they developed into an integral whole.
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Then there is "Une femme face à la Mafia" ("A Woman Facing the Mafia"), the title of the autobiographical, true-crime book on which the film is based. In its pages, coauthor Renée Le Roux (along with her son and co-writer, Jean-Charles), describes how she battled the Mafia-backed speculators who wanted to buy out her casino. That story dominates the first half of the film.
In retrospect, maybe Téchiné should have stuck with the book, focusing on the steely willed Le Roux, played by Catherine Deneuve in the film's only creditable performance. The owner of Nice's lush, gold-lighted Palais de La Mediterranée, she wields an imperious, Hillary Clinton-like authority while standing firm against the sabotage and threats of those out to steal her property. And she demonstrates a special kind of toughness when she shuts down ingratiating legal adviser Maurice Agnelet (Guillaume Canet, a bland noodle of a Lothario) when he tries to wheedle his way into running the place.
But she can't control her daughter, Agnés, who has moved back into the family villa after a failed marriage. Annoyed that her mother has withheld her inheritance, Agnés becomes besotted with Agnelet, who uses her clingy neediness to undermine Renée. The mob moves in and takes over the Palais, but Agnelet is still stuck with Agnés, who, as played by Adè le Haenel, seems more pathological than sympathetic. When she disappears, it doesn't exactly break your heart.
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Thirty years pass — you can tell because Deneuve wears a gray wig and Agnelet looks like he's been attacked by a drunk makeup man with a pot of latex. During this time Le Roux has expended her fortune on bringing Agnelet, who she believes murdered Agnés, to justice. Too bad she didn't cough up the inheritance when she had the chance and perhaps spare the need for the tedious trial of the ending.
More disappointing than the film's inertia and amorphousness is its sacrifice of the real-world themes of class, money, corruption, and power. Unable to decide what story he wanted to tell, Téchiné hedges his bets and loses everything.
Watch the trailer:
Peter Keough can he be reached at petervkeough@gmail.com.