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Dialing back on the icy intensity that has marked many of her memorable roles, the incomparable Isabelle Huppert seizes on the opportunity to let down her hair, or at least pull it back under a hijab in order to moonlight as a Moroccan drug dealer in the comedic crime thriller “Mama Weed.”
Known as “La Daronne” (The Godmother) in its original French release, where the entertaining film shares its name with the bestselling novel by Hannelore Cayre, the multicultural caper nevertheless provides Huppert with ample substance.
A widowed, underpaid French Arabic translator for the Paris police narcotics unit, Patience Portefeux (Huppert) finds herself at a crossroads, seeking something more exciting than being tethered to a pair of headphones monitoring phone conversations among the city’s biggest drug dealers.
Mama Weed movie review & film summary (2021) rogerebert.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rogerebert.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The French legend’s star power threads together tones of wit, danger and political substance
Robert Abele | July 14, 2021 @ 4:00 PM
Music Box Films
With a body of work that rivals any performer’s across the history of film, French actress Isabelle Huppert can swan in and out of challenging material with nary a scratch to her matchless reputation. Often, her cool intensity and versatility is what makes that material work, most recently exemplified in her Oscar-nominated turn in Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle.” But sometimes you get what amounts to a perfect fit of risk and skill, leading to sheer delight. That’s the case with the fleet French crime comedy “La Daronne,” translated with a winking nudge into colloquial English, and toward its particular narrative, as “Mama Weed.”
Mama Weed Review: Huppert Slings Hash - The New York Times nytimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nytimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Iris Bry, and
Nadja Nguyen. Adapted from the novel The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre, and nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay César Award, this is a clever French crime caper featuring an impeccably charming performance from the legendary Huppert. Looks like a good time.
Here s the official US trailer (+ French poster) for Jean-Paul Salomé s
Mama Weed, direct from YouTube:
A French-Arabic translator for the Paris police anti-narcotics unit, Patience Portefeux (Isabelle Huppert) interprets the daily calls and conversations between the city’s biggest drug dealers. In the evenings, she looks in on her aging mother at the long-term care facility where she is months behind in paying the bills. When she overhears the son of one of her mother’s nurses on the wiretap at work, Patience is moved to protect him. But her involvement in his business quickly escalates and she finds herself in possession of a huge store of hash and the insider knowledge required to move it. With