Joe, the man at the center of the story, had seen one son die, and the other, his youngest, Manu, had been sent to prison where he awaited to be put to death for a crime that left two men dead. Joe is relentless in his quest to get Manu spared from a sure death. Unfortunately, all his efforts seemed to go nowhere, All his energies go to try to save his son from a sure death, while playing poker, to help with the cost of the legal process. His wife, Emilie was no help; she was a dreamer who thought playing roulette would bring her riches that never materialized.

Manu, a young man who fought in the French Resistance. After the war, he fell into a fast crowd. He and his brother, were involved in a fatal shooting that had his brother killed. Manu, who did not pull the trigger, cannot implicate the real responsible because it will implicate his criminal uncle, Santos, now living safely overseas. Joe's heart goes after his young son, whom he saw go to the wrong side of the law, but could not do anything to stop him.

It is because Joe's tenacity that Manu's life is changed from death row to a life term. In reality, Manu only served eleven years and was released. After coming out of prison, Manu wrote a book, "Le Trou" that was made into a successful film by Jacques Becker. In fact, the story is autobiographical since the director Jose Giovanni, is the Manu of the story.

Jose Giovanni directed a story he knew well, having lived it years before. The interesting thing is the casting of the central character of Joe. The director had Bruno Cremer in mind, something that pays off well. The work of Mr. Cremer is exceptional in the way Mr. Giovanni conceived his Joe. Both men had a clear understanding for the material which translates well in the screen.

Vicent Lecoeur is Manu, Mr. Giovanni's alter ego. The supporting cast is excellent, among them there are good performances by Rufus, Michelle Goddet, Eric Defosse, and the rest.

Jose Giovanni said that only Bruno Cremer could play the role of his father. And Giovanni made the right choice. Bruno Cremer is very moving as Jo, the father of Manu. This father is not well loved (because misunderstood) by his son, but anyway, he made the maximum, even talk to the victim's family to obtain that his son doesn't die by the guillotine. The movie is well constructed, with good actors such as Rufus, in a part very different from what we are used too. Hitorically, this movie is interesting too because of the painting of the 50's and some details about the prisons and the "Death quarter". I watched this movie several times. If you buy the DVD (in French), don't forget to watch the commented film. Jose Giovanni comments the movie all along and explains many things, adding details about this period of his life.

It's not the first time José Giovanni has tackled this burning subject.In the seventies,two of his movies deal with it:the first one "2 Hommes dans la Ville' casts Alain Delon as a man who ends his life on the guillotine:the movie is very one -sided -with a cardboard character for the great Michel Bouquet !-,but the final scene packs a real wallop.More implicitly,in 1976, "comme un boomerang" serves as some kind of blueprint for was to become "Mon Père...":a young man has killed a cop and now he is in jail and his father (Delon again) , a former gangster,desperately tries to save him.Unfortunately,who could buy the philosophy of this work? Justice is unfair with the Rich whose biggest sin is to be rich!!who could swallow that?

"Mon père" is a different matter,because it's Giovanni's story itself.André Cayatte's influences ("nous sommes tous des assassins" ,1952)are constantly in evidence in the first hour .And the impact has diminished since Cayatte 's days because of the abolishment of death penalty in France by François Mitterrand in 1981.Flashbacks are not necessary very original and anyway I must admit that I'm not a Bruno Cremer fan.The last fifteen minutes are redundant and flatter the director's ego.It's the success story all over again and it destroys a bit of the emotion.Besides,the movie succumbs to the worst clichés of melodrama:"yes,the cards did tell he would survive and become famous"even if it happened in real life,is-it necessary to feature such elements in a two-hour movie?

Despite these reservations which some will find severe,"Mon père" is a movie which deserves to be seen ,because of its documentary look at the death row ,and the depiction of the prisoners' terror is filmed by GIovanni with conviction ,because he 's been through it all.

After "le trou" ,which was a Jacques Becker masterpiece -Becker was dying at the time and the failure of the escape was a harsh metaphor for the impossibility for a man to escape death-,Giovanni became a talented scriptwriter and a minor but sometimes endearing generous director whose best works are his first ones :"la Loi du Survivant" ,the exotic and underrated "le Rapace" ,"Dernier Domicile Connu" and "Où est passé Tom?".Giovanni's scores -often by the late François de Roubaix- are always tasteful .