La Daronne is in Berlin cinemas now. Photo: Neue Visionen Filmverleih
A predictable but entertaining crime drama with flashes of humour.
Based on the popular novel by Hannelore Cayre, Jean-Paul Salomé’s La Daronne follows the story of Patience Portefeux (Isabelle Huppert), an overworked French-Arabic translator for the anti-drug squad in Paris who is “fed up of everything – it’s existential”. She gets embroiled in a failed drug deal and becomes involved in the world of drug trafficking as the enterprising titular ‘godmother’ who has the inside scoop thanks to her police connections.
Predictable but entertaining, this is a gently insolent crime comedy that straddles both genres without ever fully committing to either. While its anglicised title, Mama Weed, suggests more laughs, the main snag with La Daronne isn’t its tonal balancing act but rather the way it wastes the opportunity to slyly deconstruct and satirise class and justice systems that favour the privileged and explain shifting moral standards.
In this respect, Jérôme Enrico’s 2012 film Paulette, which saw an elderly xenophobe struggling with her small pension having to sell drugs to get by, is a better commentary and feels much sharper. Thankfully, Huppert saves the day – the role of Patience isn’t a stretch for celebrated French thesp, as the character requires her to play an inscrutable woman who starts to lead a double life. However, her typical ice-queen routine is here punctuated by some warmer humorous beats that work and ensure La Daronne remains pleasantly watchable.
La Daronne / Directed by Jean-Paul Salomé (France 2020), with Isabelle Huppert, Nadja Nguyen, Hippolyte Girardot. Starts October 08.