Standing Tall (2015) User Reviews (7)

Harrowing and moving

[FrenchEddieFelson · 7/10 · 20 May 2019]

This film follows the journey, during a dozen years, of two people: Malony Ferrandot, a child who is definitely not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and Florence Blaque, a judge for juveniles, as firm as surprisingly empathetic. This film gives us the impression of being in a zoo, watching wild animals loosely left to themselves, with an inadequate security fence: at the slightest hitch, it's going down the crapper!

Around these two main characters, gravitate 1) Séverine, an immature and completely out of one's depth mother, 2) Yann, an educator certainly fragile but fundamentally benevolent and playing the role of a substitute father, and 3) Tess who is somehow a detonator in the life of Malony and makes him want to live as a mellowed man rather than survive like a wild animal.

These five characters are certainly caricatured and / or not very credible. Thus, Séverine, the mother, is a practical joke; Florence, the judge, is exceedingly benevolent and I sincerely doubt that this is so in the real life; Tess surprisingly falls in love with a teen as antisocial as loathsome; Malony is a tie-in product from the famous video game Grand Theft Auto Vice City. But, behind these five characters, there are five awesome actors illuminating this beautiful movie.

Too bad these matters have been toyed with too much in contemporary French cinema lately

[mehobulls · 8/10 · 21 October 2020]

The story provokes compassion but shows quite a naive view of the nature of the society-individual conflict. Seems like the authors want to persuade us that love and forgiveness are the solution to everything. Hard to agree especially judging by the story they tell.

Powerful drama

[searchanddestroy-1 · 17 May 2015]

A terrific drama speaking of the juvenile delinquency, more outstanding than anything I have already seen concerning such a kind of scheme. The young actor, whom I have never heard about before, is absolutely impressive as the lead character and I am sure we will hear of him soon. A great actor who gives us here a powerful performance. And Catherine Deneuve is still a great actress after all these years, and still beautiful too.

Yes, folks, that's really a brutal, violent and sometimes unbearable feature that grabs you, glues you to your seat, and so close to reality.

I highly recommend it.

Rod Paradot: A star is born

[ljredux · 9/10 · 1 February 2021]

A six-year-old boy from a dysfunctional home is placed into care, develops serious emotional problems, and spends the next decade getting into trouble with the law while social welfare services fight to rehabilitate him.

La Tête Haute (Standing Tall) seems unremarkable when summarised like this, but it is actually a very compelling film - in large part due to the breakthrough performance of Rod Paradot who plays problem-child protagonist, Malony.

From his sneering disdain towards the Juvenile Court Judge portrayed by Catherine Deneuve, to the sheer physical embodiment of the mental demons that torture him, it is hard to believe that this is Paradot's first film; that he was a trainee carpenter waiting to be discovered just months before production began.

One very jarring aspect of this film is its tendency to exasperate the viewer. Quite often Malony will seem to be making progress only to sabotage it with a senseless act. It becomes repetitive but is almost certainly intended to project the child protection teams' frustrations onto the audience.

And here we find another trait that sets this apart from other recent French films concerned with the rehabilitation of troubled teenagers: It paints the Judge, the Social Worker and their colleagues in a more constructive and positive light. They are as frustrated with the system as the child, but their battle is with the confines and constraints that impede their ability to help him. They actually seem to care.

Very much recommended.

400 BLOWS FOR A NEW GENERATION...!

[masonfisk · 10/10 · 5 July 2018]

One hates that universal truths are that, universal as seen in Standing Tall, a French tale of anguish & possible redemption of a youth in revolt. Seemingly Dardennesque (Jean & Luc, filmmakers who chronicle the working class of Belgium), we enter the dismaying world of a particular Parisian malcontent who begs for a hug or smack sometimes in the expanse of the same instance. With a supporting turn as a sympathetic judge from France's national treasure Catherine Deneuve, the plight of this teen plays across her weathered features as we wonder if he'll ever get his act together.

Malony is Balony

[MidoriFiore · 4/10 · 29 May 2016]

It comes a time to take a stand. Not just for me, but for all of cinema. Malony is a horrible, cynical, opportunistic and dull affair. Malony is a trouble child an early age. At 16, he is shopped around different foster homes. His mother is in her 40's but played by a 28 year old actress, who looks like she is Malony's cougar girlfriend. Malony is failing school and sentenced to a youth camp after committing grand theft auto. His judge and his counselor does not want to give up on Malony and tries their best to get him some kind of education and possibility in life. Malony has skipped so much school that he will not be able to finish seventh grade - having already spent two years in every grade.

It's kind of hard to get a grip of the plot because it is more a series events than a story. Malony is a impatient, violent and completely unlikable character. Why people still wants to help him is beyond me. He is given tons of chances by the authorities and ends up messing them up every time. He flirts with a counselor's daughter and they end up in bed. But Malony ends up raping the girl. And for some reason, she falls in love with him. WHAT? The fact that so few critics have been bothered by this, deeply disturbs me.

A counselor get's Malony a job, but Malony just goes around and sneers and leers at the customers. He ends up kicking a table at a pregnant woman for no reason.

The acting from the lead actor is horrible. He overacts for president and country. Catherine Deneuve sleeps through her performance. I can honestly not remember anything about the other character's personality, except for the caricature that is the mother.

The message of the film is simple. Poor and stupid people should not reproduce, lest they will produce and even more hopeless generation. It's like a propaganda film by Dr Goebbles, mistaken by critics as a social awareness flick.

Yes...but

[foxc-2 · 5/10 · 10 October 2017]

I certainly agree with the panning of this very intense film even though I gave it a high rating which I did because when it's good, it's very good - "intense" doesn't begin to approach how gripping this film and especially the performance of Paridot is. Granted though, the characters are one dimensional: they're either totally evil, total losers (like the mother) or possessed of angelic patience and calm. I'm a soft-hearted former teacher and believe in second chances but Malony gets one hundred and two and still screws up. I kept thinking as he messed up violently yet again that THIS was the time they'd throw away the key but no, "one more chance". Totally unrealistic and a vision of money wasting in the public sector that should be cut off tomorrow.