Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

MartinHafer I have rarely expected so much from a film but got so little. This was my experience with "Ricky". After all, it's a story about a baby who sprouts wings--and so it's a comedy, right?! Well, no...there really isn't anything funny or even magical about the movie and I thoroughly hated the movie.The film begins with a single mom, Katie, and her obviously ignored and depressed daughter, Lisa. Lisa's needs or welfare NEVER seem to matter to Katie and often Katie just does whatever she wants. She sees a nice looking guy at work...she has sex with him in a bathroom stall. She has a daughter to pick up at school...she shows up much, much later than she said and the kid just has to wait. She decides to actually DATE the man she had sex with in the stall, she runs off to do this and you assume the kid is with a sitter or at home alone. Later, mom brings the guy home and they screw again--and it's very loud and the kid is forced to hear it all. The next day, the kid sees mom and her latest passion having breakfast and you have no idea how this will impact the child. Most animals seem to have more on the ball regarding parenting than this woman! Look, I am not anti-sex--but there is a reasonable time and place and being responsible sure ain't important to this couple. Later, they create a boy--and the guy runs off for a while. Call me old fashioned if you like, but I didn't think much of this parenting style.So, at this point, I assumed that when Ricky, the baby, sprouts wings that the parents will FINALLY grow up and there will be some meaning to all of this or some needed personal growth. Nope. Apparently there is no message. Mom, true to form, misplaces Ricky and the film soon ends. Apparently, the baby's needs, like his sister's really don't matter. But at least mom feels inexplicably inspired.Why do others like this film? All I know is that I couldn't relate to it or enjoy it at all. It's a waste of an interesting idea, that's for sure. And, it really annoyed me.

arman-h-rad OK,a winged Ricky...whatever the metaphor is, has been designed to be the shock and climax of the movie. And what does Ozon have to offer after that? Virtually nothing... some big steps back in Ozon's career... still a good decoupage and some memorable scenes. ( I particularly like Lisa chopping the chicken's wings,which intensifies the threatening atmosphere, Ozon wants to imply... the light of insight on Katie's face when she was in the lake..resemblance of Ricky to his father as far as hair growth is concerned!...contrast of the music and rapid growth of the wing...)But,looking forward to see Ozon's back to his basics

waterwalker I saw this today as part of the Alliance Francais film festival in Brisbane.While not Ozon's best effort (for me Swimming Pool remains his masterpiece) this is an intriguing whimsical story with disturbing undertones of obsession and sibling rivalry.The story really makes most sense when considered from Lisa's point of view (a powerhouse performance by the young actress here). I took the fantasy aspect of the story to be a metaphorical expression of integrating new members into a tightly knit family of two (and not just Ricky either). This magical realism is very strongly grounded in the emotions of the characters and this is what gives the movie impact in spite of its imperfections. Ozon likes operating on the boundary of fact/fiction mind/reality, and takes huge gambles here which don't always come off--but in the moments they do the film is very satisfying.

maxklaxon As I read the other comments, I am surprised that I had a completely different feel about and interpretation of this film. As I see it, the entire part of the movie in which winged Ricky is portrayed only happens in the mind of the mother. A frustrated and desperate re-invention of how her life could be.If you will bear with me, I will try to explain this and offer some distinct scenes and pointers in the movie that corroborate this interpretation.In the first scene the mother is seen speaking with a social welfare counselor. She states that her partner has left her for a week and that she is desperate and willing to give up her child to foster-care. In the remainder of the film, when she is raising Ricky, she was at it as a single mum, for at least a couple of months and doing so happily. Why would she throw that all out after one week of being alone and after losing a previous child. Which she handled with grace.Secondly, at the start of the second scene, it is clear that the rest of the movie is a flashback of the first scene. This is made clear by the text on the screen that says "A few months earlier" when the second scene starts. However the time-lines of the remainder of the movie cover much more. It starts at the conception of Ricky, the birth of Ricky (+9 months), Ricky growing, flying, and eventually walking (+ 12 months), the mother pregnant again and giving birth to another kid (+9 months). That spans at least two and a half years.If however it is only Ricky that is born, and the mother that has a nervous and financial breakdown, while imagining how life could be if some fantastical thing would have happened, then the time-line make much more sense. The fantasy of a flying baby and consequently the staying together of the family is her way of escaping the harsh reality. This also explain her lack of surprise and her readily accepting her loss.A winged infant that flies away and still survives and is nourished in the wild, is symbolic for the outside world, and her desire, out of desperation to give up her child to foster-care and seeing it prosper.The feel and the rhythm of the film are very much in tune with this interpretation.But then again, I could be totally wrong. ;)