Mother, aspiring photographer, uses her teenage daughter as a model for her rather shocking and depraved photos. At first it's all good fun, until her daughter turns into a Lolita, the role almost being forced on her by her mother. She doesn't want to be part of the team anymore and things get complicated. Will she be able to free herself from that all-consuming egocentric mother? Eva Ionesco, the... read more
Description:Young Violetta and her mother Hannah are a peculiar couple. Ten-year-old Violetta lives a quiet life with her grandmother, while her mother Hannah is an unpredictable photographer who lives off of the generosity of others. When Hannah forces her daughter to pose as a model, Violetta finds her life with her loving grandmother turned upYoung Violetta and her mother Hannah are a peculiar couple. Ten-year-old Violetta lives a quiet life with her grandmother, while her mother Hannah is an unpredictable photographer who lives off of the generosity of others. When Hannah forces her daughter to pose as a model, Violetta finds her life with her loving grandmother turned upside down.The resulting pictures quickly become a sensation for the trendy 70''s Paris art scene, and Violetta finds herself caught in between her new stature as an art muse and her dull childhood.
The French actress Eva Ionesco mines her own scandalous past in her debut feature. Ionesco's mother, Franco-Romanian photographer Irina Ionesco, famously shot and sold erotic photography of her daughter at the age of five, initiating a queasy career that culminated in appearances in the Italian edition of Playboy at 11. Her story has already inspired Louis Malle's Pretty Baby, and Ionesco herself has spent much of her adult life dealing with the after-effects, repeatedly suing her mother for emotional distress.
In this fictional telling, Ionesco's mother is played by a peroxided, full-diva mode Isabelle Huppert, and much of the film revolves around the love-hate dynamic young Ionesco had with this glamorous, narcissistic figure. As cutting as she is about her mother, Ionesco does not shy away from a candid portrait of her younger self as a bratty, obnoxious teen. ... (more)(less)
“Mother, aspiring photographer, uses her teenage daughter as a model for her rather shocking and depraved photos. At first it's all good fun, until her daughter turns into a Lolita, the role almost being forced on her by her mother. She doesn't want to be part of the team anymore and things get complicated. Will she be able to free herself from that all-consuming egocentric mother? Eva Ionesco, the director, makes her own childhood into a film. Very brave and superly acted!” read more
kafkasvater added this to a list 1 year, 1 month ago
"Mother, aspiring photographer, uses her teenage daughter as a model for her rather shocking and depraved photos. At first it's all good fun, until her daughter turns into a Lolita, the role almost being forced on her by her mother. She doesn't want to be part of the team anymore and things get complicated. Will she be able to free herself from that all-consuming egocentric mother? Eva Ionesco, the director, makes her own childhood into a film. Very brave and superly acted!"
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Movie Diary 2012
