How I Killed My Father

How I Killed My Father (French: Comment j'ai tué mon père) is a 2001 French thriller drama film directed by Anne Fontaine.

How I Killed My Father
French film poster
Directed by	Anne Fontaine
Written by	Jacques Fieschi Anne Fontaine
Produced by	Philippe Carcassonne
Starring	Charles Berling Michel Bouquet Natacha Régnier
Cinematography	Jean-Marc Fabre
Edited by	Guy Lecorne
Music by	Jocelyn Pook
Production companies	Ciné B France 2 Cinéma
Distributed by	Pathé (France) New Yorker Films (USA)
Release dates	8 August 2001 (2001-08-08) (Locarno) 19 September 2001 (2001-09-19) (France)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Budget	$5.2 million[1]
Box office	$1.7 million[2]

Plot

Jean-Luc, an established gerontologist, has not had any contact with his father, Maurice, for many years and thinks he is dead. Jean-Luc lost touch when his father left his family to work as a physician in Africa.

Without notice, the father reappears. He is bankrupt and moves into his son's home for several days. He annoys Jean-Luc with compliments that sound like accusations. Or is it Jean-Luc that always hears irony? His wife likes the senior immediately, and even Jean-Luc's younger brother accepts him. Jean-Luc would like to kill his father but...

Cast

• Charles Berling as Jean-Luc
• Michel Bouquet as Maurice
• Natacha Régnier as Isa
• Stéphane Guillon as Patrick
• Amira Casar as Myriem
• Hubert Koundé as Jean-Toussaint
• Karole Rocher as Laetitia
• François Berléand as The patient

Reception

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 89% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "How I Killed My Father is a penetrating character study of father-son ties".^[3] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[4]

Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times said that "[the film is a] kind of murder mystery, but eventually the only victim is the audience's interest -- the picture is uncompromising and inauspicious".^[5]

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly commented that "[t]he script is a steady accretion of small stabs to the heart, propelling the gorgeous performances of Berling, Regnier, and especially the 76-year-old French cinema veteran Bouquet, whose every faint smile is killing".^[6]

Ty Burr of The Boston Globe wrote "Hushed but scalpel-sharp drama, a [film] that'll probably send men in the audience home much quieter than they arrived".^[7]