– CANNES 2026: Laetitia Masson’s drama focuses on a mother’s perspective on her disabled child’s development from birth to young adulthood
Stanislas Merhar and Élodie Bouchez in Ulysse
There is no respite for Alice (Élodie Bouchez), who is convinced that her son can be independent in the world. In Laetitia Masson’s Cannes’ Un Certain Regard closing film Ulysse, the titular boy – and later, young man, played at an older age by Alphonse Roberts – has a genetic condition that leads to slow intellectual and physical development, as well as intense sensory overload. However, that does not stop his mother from pushing for every possible opportunity for him to be as close to her perception of “normal” (predominantly having a job and earning money for himself), with an emphasis on the scare quotes. As the story is told through the perspective of a well-meaning mother, some of her choices may understandably be challenged by the audience, such as her belief that only she knows what is best for her son.
With Masson framing the film through Alice’s rose-tinted glasses, it is odd – at first – that we see almost no conflict occurring in her raising of Ulysse; we never witness him act out at home or struggle in school. But once we shift our gaze towards hers, everything clicks into place. Her loving naïvety is baked into the film’s very premise, even if viewers may also choose to interpret the work as endorsing this perspective. Combined with Alexandre Auque’s extremely rapid editing, which condenses scenes to their very essence, Masson crafts a kind of retrospective reality, as though a mother were trying to preserve a pristine image of her beloved child.
Conversely, it is easy to lose sight of Ulysse’s father Luc (Stanislas Merhar), who rather bizarrely leaves for the US when his son is still young in order to pursue his dream of becoming a touring musician — convenient timing for someone eager to flee his responsibilities as a parent, having openly expressed frustration and even jealousy towards a disabled child. Alice surprisingly does not take it too badly, her single-minded devotion to Ulysse occupying centre stage, as she herself openly acknowledges. Taking Luc’s place in a surrogate sense is her son’s speech therapist, played by French hip-hop artist and actor Gringe, who gradually grows closer to Alice over time.
It is deceptively easy to be sceptical of the worldview presented in Ulysse — yet it is perhaps even harder to admit that it is rooted in a reality experienced by many parents. Alice’s choice to constantly look on the bright side of things while shielding herself from the rest, as Masson chooses to portray this world, becomes a way of staying sane in a society not built for her son: bureaucracy, disability-based discrimination, a lack of medical accommodation and accessibility, among other things. Appreciating Ulysse requires buying into her philosophy of life, recognising that it is flawed while still empathising with it regardless.
Ulysse is a French production by ARP. Goodfellas handles international sales.
