Hubert Minel does not love his mother. From the top of her 17 years, he gauges her with contempt, only sees her old-fashioned sweaters, her kitsch decoration and the bread crumbs that lodge at the corners of her lips when she eats noisily. Beyond these irritating surfaces, there is also manipulation and guilt, mechanisms dear to its progenitor. Confused by this love-hate relationship which obsesses him more and more, Hubert waves in the mysteries of an adolescence that is both marginal and typical - artistic discoveries, illicit experiences, openness to friendship, sex and ostracism - eaten away by the resentment he feels towards a woman he once loved.

Director's fortnight: Cannes Film Festival 2009