Young Gunther has it hard. Growing up in a small Belgian village, he has been abandoned by his mother and now lives crammed into a house with his drunkard father, his grandmother and dad's three drunken uncles - one of whom he shares a room with, meaning that he must be an up close and personal audience for Uncle Petrol's sexual escapades. They are a merrily drunken tribe, a clan united by their love of alcohol, lewd drinking songs and - once a year - dressing up as women for a three day continuous binge.
A coarse and unusual, yet surprisingly touching and heartfelt coming of age story, The Misfortunates tells us Gunther's story both as a child and an adult, cutting back and forth between the thirteen year old version of the boy, clad in ill fitting acrylic sweaters and struggling to find a place for himself that doesn't necessarily involve bringing dad his early morning drink to stave off the DT shakes, and the adult version of Gunther - still trying to deal with his family issues and still trying to find a place for himself but clearly someone who has taken some much needed distance from his family.
We've seen films built around this sort of premise before, meant-to-be-inspiring tales of kids grown up hard who transcend their circumstances but Felix van Groeningen's film is a surprisingly different animal, one I would suggest is considerably more honest and human with its subjects than most. Yes, there are moments of shocking neglect and depictions of brutal addiction - in one memorable moment one of Gunther's uncles chooses to simply unzip himself and piss under the table so that he will not have to get up and interrupt his drinking, in another Gunther begins his day by swabbing the vomit off his unconscious father's face and booking him off work sick before heading off to school - but there are also positive reasons why this family stays together. There is the fixation on Roy Orbison, the genuine admiration Gunther has for his volatile uncle Petrol, their bizarre rituals and traditions and the sense of fun that sees them participating in bizaare stunts like a naked bicycle race. Though van Groeningen holds nothing back in exposing the weaknesses of the family he also never forgets that there are positives as well, that while the love they have for each other may be horribly flawed it is still present and still very real.
Ironically, rather than softening the impact of the film, this move towards showing the positive as well as the negative actually makes Gunther's plight all the more real. How can he move away from these people? Damaged though they may be, they do still love him and have done their best to care for him, which is more than can be said for his mother who simply abandoned him and never looked back. Likewise, the intercutting between eras is also a powerful device, one that shows the lingering impact of Gunther's upbringing years - decades, even - later on in his life.
Van Groeningen has here created a story about family, about fatherhood and masculinity that is deeply troubling but also very honest and entertaining. It is crude and coarse but rings emotionally true. Loaded with stellar performances from the entire cast and shot with an uncommon sense of intimacy, The Misfortunates offers little in the way of judgement or criticism, it simply drops you in to the midst of Gunther's family and allows you to share in their lives. A very strong piece of work.
A coarse and unusual, yet surprisingly touching and heartfelt coming of age story, The Misfortunates tells us Gunther's story both as a child and an adult, cutting back and forth between the thirteen year old version of the boy, clad in ill fitting acrylic sweaters and struggling to find a place for himself that doesn't necessarily involve bringing dad his early morning drink to stave off the DT shakes, and the adult version of Gunther - still trying to deal with his family issues and still trying to find a place for himself but clearly someone who has taken some much needed distance from his family.
We've seen films built around this sort of premise before, meant-to-be-inspiring tales of kids grown up hard who transcend their circumstances but Felix van Groeningen's film is a surprisingly different animal, one I would suggest is considerably more honest and human with its subjects than most. Yes, there are moments of shocking neglect and depictions of brutal addiction - in one memorable moment one of Gunther's uncles chooses to simply unzip himself and piss under the table so that he will not have to get up and interrupt his drinking, in another Gunther begins his day by swabbing the vomit off his unconscious father's face and booking him off work sick before heading off to school - but there are also positive reasons why this family stays together. There is the fixation on Roy Orbison, the genuine admiration Gunther has for his volatile uncle Petrol, their bizarre rituals and traditions and the sense of fun that sees them participating in bizaare stunts like a naked bicycle race. Though van Groeningen holds nothing back in exposing the weaknesses of the family he also never forgets that there are positives as well, that while the love they have for each other may be horribly flawed it is still present and still very real.
Ironically, rather than softening the impact of the film, this move towards showing the positive as well as the negative actually makes Gunther's plight all the more real. How can he move away from these people? Damaged though they may be, they do still love him and have done their best to care for him, which is more than can be said for his mother who simply abandoned him and never looked back. Likewise, the intercutting between eras is also a powerful device, one that shows the lingering impact of Gunther's upbringing years - decades, even - later on in his life.
Van Groeningen has here created a story about family, about fatherhood and masculinity that is deeply troubling but also very honest and entertaining. It is crude and coarse but rings emotionally true. Loaded with stellar performances from the entire cast and shot with an uncommon sense of intimacy, The Misfortunates offers little in the way of judgement or criticism, it simply drops you in to the midst of Gunther's family and allows you to share in their lives. A very strong piece of work.