Andreas_N Review of My Mother's Castle

My Mother's Castle (1990)

Transitoriness of life as a lesson for everyone

[10/10 · 4 November 2005]

The sequel to My Father's Glory. The story itself is not as developed and interesting as in part one, as it mainly deals with the short cut the Pagnols use to reach their summer domicile. Still, it's the end that makes this sequel a very good movie. The end symbolizes the transitoriness of life and bliss. Nothing stays the same. Time goes by. We grow older. The magic of childhood diminishes. We lose loved ones. Our hearts break in two. Kids don't know such things. Life, as it proceeds, changes everything. And then, sometimes, we stop and look back, just as Marcel did at the very end, when he walked the path of his childhood, accompanied by tender shadows of the past. We look behind our shoulder and... what do we see? We see shadows of our own past, maybe we hear the laughter of young voices, so full of joy and energy, and maybe we wonder what has happened to the kid who used to laugh that way? Why don't we laugh that way today? Because this is one part of our life that's inevitably gone. That's what's so superbly symbolized by the last few shots. When I first saw this, I felt tears in my eyes. This is an eternal story of how fading life is, and therewith this movie has achieved its place in my heart.