How I Killed My Father (2001)

The title of this French film is more than a little misleading since no one is physically murdered and there is only very, very limited violence.  The killing in question is more of a metaphorical one as a cold and calculating gerontologist, played by Charles Berling at his iciest, copes with the return from Africa of his doctor father who had abandoned the family when he was a child.  The father is an amazingly sympathetic character played by Michel Bouqet -- so very, very good as the eponymous late president in "The Last Mitterrand" which I viewed recently but did not review.  Like a lot of French movies, not much happens, but we are presented with an acting master-class, not just by the two leads, but also by the actors playing Berling's isolated wife and his younger brother.  Part of the film's appeal is the contrast between the feckless good Samaritan father who is not afraid of death and the overly controlled son who panders to his rich clientele with ways of avoiding aging.  Berling has even convinced his complacent wife that she is barren, largely because he is traumatised by the whole father-child business.  As a wealthy man, he believes that offering money to his father will rid him of this intrusion into his tidy life, but the other characters are able to move ahead, even if he is not.