The Perfect Mother

This was tedious to watch. It's only four episodes long... and that's five episodes too many. By the end of the fourth episode I was fast-forrwarding to shorten the torture. The acting by the two female leads is so flat and lifeless that it might be the real crime in this series. Mother Hélène's face rarely moves much, and she spends a lot of time speaking in breathless, whispered tones. The viewer suspects that Hélène may in fact suffer from Resting B Face all the time, not just when her daughter stands accused of murder. And what police force would tolerate her messing about in an investigation like this? It feels totally unrealistic and frankly I wish they'd put her in jail too. (How do you say "entitled Karen" in French?) As for daughter Anya, she evokes no sympathy even at the outset. She made bad choices, and bad things happened to her. But that alone isn't enough to make her character or predicament intriguing to the viewer. Other characters in this slow-paced melodrama the just felt irrelevant and pointless through the entire story. Does it really matter in every episode if Lukas gets to finish his exams on time? Were various hospital scenes exploring the complications from little Farida's face transplant surgery necessary? Tangents anyone?? There were some twists and turns in here--and the ending certainly turns the tables on Anya. But by the time you get to the end, you just don't care anymore. You just want it finished.

Albeit a little slow paced this series is well paced and with the watch , the lawyer is excellent and all characters are well defined even the father who shines as a kind of loser which is not easy to cast...good narrative and script with interesting twists .. maybe not quite dark enough and a lack of interest can come up as the story line does come through as not very original ...the movie deserves a better rating because in the genre there is suspense and it is enjoyable to watch ..in fact it lacks a little plausible aspects which ruins to some extent the interest . I do recommend the watch as you will spend some good time watching it.

This story is a very interesting idea, unfortunately there are several issues. To begin with, none of the characters are likable. At the beginning you may have some sympathy for the mother but as the story progresses you start to lose it. The end is very very very disappointing and makes you wonder what was the purpose of this series. Usually you finish a show wishing the characters get the best outcome, but this time I wish they'd had it worse (except for the lawyer). The more I watched the less I liked them. I wouldn't mind hating the characters if at least they've got what they deserve, but they don't. There are some plot twists, which is good, but you could predict them along the way. It should also have been shorter than 4 episodes, the last one was too slow and got boring some times.

No pun intended - no one is perfect of course. Also I am no one (or was it nobody?). Kidding aside, the show does not warrant too many jokes - it actually is quite serious. And it is quite twisty to say the least. I reckon some of the twists will be sort of predictable .. or at least you will be able to guess which direction this will go. So there are some repetitive things going around and maybe you are suspicious of certain things ... whatever the case, I do like thrillers and the show does a decent job of keeping us occupied and engaged ... even if we are not entirely sure who to root for. It probably could have done being shorter (an episode or something along those lines) ... but it still is a nice thing to watch ... especially if you are into this kind of genre. Acting is fine and the language change from time to time is not really something that should bother you either.

The first 2 episodes were engaging, even with Mom knowing more than the lawyer she hired and the police. I suppose her whining about saving her daughter was supposed to make you feel empathy? Sympathy? It was more like everybody is wrong but me. Daughter accused of murder, daughter was raped and Perfect Mom is hunting down aliens and drug dealers. Right. Episode 3 was worse as she continued to argue in the face of the obvious. And finally, the last episode crumbled into disbelief and questionable legal moves. The daughter is released to continue her ways and Mom just stands there, knowing the awful truth but unwilling to do anything about it. What a waste.

A lot of reviews here are pretty critical, and they all have a point, but I found the whole package convincing enough. The main weakness was the rather wooden performances of the mother and daughter who are under immense stress; the plot around the son was a bit weak too, I agree that it might have worked better if he was gay; the issues raised (family, parenting, law, guilt and innocence, illegal immigration, the Paris / Berlin connection) held it well. It might have been better as a film. Let's see a few more family dramas set in a wider context, the formula is irresistible if it's done well.

I'd worked out whodunit by halfway through episode two but not why - that would come near the end of the final moments of the drama. But how could the cops be slower than me? In the face of continual lying and stories that didn't add up they seemed to be bending over backwards not to get the correct person convicted. At the same time that all this was going on in Paris, another drama was playing out in Berlin. Neither the main plot in France nor the sub plots in Germany were particularly convincing; I'd have been more impressed if Lukas had turned out to be gay which looked for a while how things were going. I'm not sure a French lawyer would have compromised his ethics as badly as Maître Duc. I can't imagine a British barrister doing what he did. That he wasn't up before the disciplinary committee for his known infractions was a wonder. As he himself said, lawyers aren't allowed to investigate themselves for obvious reasons. He was doing so openly. The ending was equivocal. Did Hélène stop being the "perfect mother" and seek happiness instead or did she carry on with the sham? I don't think there'll be a second season so we shall never know.

Ok. Holds interest since you want to know ending. The mother looks confused the whole series. Her face is frozen. Tthe daughter and son are 2 whining rich kids. The ending leaves you wondering, with mom standing on the steps totally confused again. Give it a try.

This series was short, only 4 episodes, by the end of the second episode, I had already figured out everything about Anya, and how it would end, nevertheless, it was easily watchable.

This got more annoying as it went on. Far, far too much padding, notably with the Berlin angle. It needs a good edit down. The final episode progressed at a snail's pace and was utterly tedious. In the end I didn't really care about any of characters with the exception, perhaps, of the lawyer played by Tomer Sisley.