Based on a fascinating true story, Once Upon My Mother follows Roland, a Moroccan-Jewish boy growing up in Paris. Roland was born with a club foot, a fact that his loving but domineering mother Esther cannot accept. She takes her son to every specialist in town, makes an altar to the Moroccan Rabbis of yore, and prays constantly (at one point Roland’s brother grumbles that “God must be sick of it”). Stuck at home watching TV, Roland becomes a superfan of Sylvie Vartan (an exhilarating cameo), and as years go by, Roland, Esther, and Vartan remain interconnected - their eventual convergence is both inevitable and captivating.
Once Upon my Mother is an ironic title; if nothing else, the film is an exploration of how a mother’s love sustains and endures. Aside from a frequently-hilarious script, this empathetic depiction of Sephardic mother-and-son is elevated by Leïla Bekhti’s powerhouse performance as Esther. Every one of her line deliveries manages to be humorous, heartwarming and machiavellian at once. —David Cohn
“Once Upon My Mother” is a film that will resonate with anyone who has faced obstacles, familial or otherwise…” Solzy at the Movies
“The movie belongs to Leïla Bekhti, a young actress who truly captures the essence of this kind of over-the-top but caring matriarch, playing off her histrionics against her genuine devotion.” The Jerusalem Post