Vindication and Redemption - Father Figures in Mea Culpa And The Hypnotist

There is a subcategory of suspense thrillers in which the plot revolves around a family in crisis. In “Mea Culpa” (2014) and “The Hypnotist (2012), the fathers have fallen from grace. Both characters exist in a state of somnolence until their sons are placed in mortal danger. The intrusion of criminality jolts both men out of their torpor. They are forced to resolve spousal conflicts and fight for the lives of their sons. Only through action are the men exonerated and the nuclear family unit restored. 

Simon (Vincent Lindon) comforts his son, Thea (Max Baisette de Malgraive) in “Mea Culpa”, directed by Fred Cavaye

Fred Cavaye, the French director and co-writer of “Mea Culpa” is a very different filmmaker from the Swedish Lasse Hallstrom, who directed and co-wrote “The Hypnotist”. Consequently, while the movies share similar themes, the material is presented in contrasting styles. “Mea Culpa” is chock-full of in-your-face action sequences, rapid cutting, and spasmodic camera movement. (The influence of American films on Cavaye’s approach is self-evident.) Hallstrom favors smooth camera moves, contemplative pacing, and invisible editing techniques. 

The structural differences, however, make “Mea Culpa” a more entertaining and emotionally satisfying experience. In the opening scenes we observe Simon (Vincent Lindon) living a lonely and ascetic life. Through the use of flashbacks, we learn the backstory. Simon was jailed for allegedly driving drunk and t-boning another vehicle, killing a mother and her two children. He loses his status as a police detective and now works as a guard for an armored car service. Separated from his wife and son, Simon can only gaze through his apartment window in despair as he watches the neighboring, happy family at their dinner table. 

Simon’s impassivity is abruptly terminated when his son Theo (Max Baissette de Malgraive) inadvertently witnesses a gang murder. Theo is now the target of the assassins. Simon arms himself, and with the help of his former partner Franck (Gilles Lellouche) battles the criminal elements determined to wipe out his family. 

During the final action sequence, which occurs on a train, Simon is stretched to the absolute limits of physical endurance. The somatic pain is his penance for the emotional pain his family has experienced. The foundational error that triggered the family’s crisis is Simon’s misplaced trust in Franck. As Franck lays dying in one of the final scenes, we learn he is responsible for the deadly accident that nearly ruined his friend’s life. All wrongs have been righted at the film’s end. Franck confesses and dies. Simon kills the aggressors and saves the lives of his wife and son. 

Benjamin (Oscar Pettersson) plays video games as his parents (Lena Olin and Mikael Persbrandt) look on with concern.

Like Simon, Erik (Mikael Persbrandt), the father protagonist in “The Hypnotist”, is also stripped of his job as the result of alleged malfeasance. Erik’s supposed crime occurs during his hypnosis of a research subject. He reports the subject has confessed to acts of child sexual abuse which are not immediately substantiated. Accused of planting false memories in the man, Erik is forbidden from practicing hypnosis in a professional capacity. The revelation that the subject is, in fact, guilty of child abuse occurs at the end of the second act. Erik’s dispassionate reaction robs the moment of its importance. 

Erik is drawn back into his former life when police detective Joona Linna (Tobias Zilliacus) requests his help solving a horrific homicide. Three members of the same family have been murdered and the fourth, who lives through the attack, is too traumatized to speak. The murderer’s accomplice attempts to thwart Erik’s participation by kidnapping his son, Benjamin (Oscar Pettersson).  

Like Simon in “Mea Culpa”, Erik is emotionally unavailable. Erik takes solace in sleeping pills, preferring an unconscious state rather than face his marital and professional dilemmas. On the night of his son’s kidnapping, Erik is so comatose that his wife Simone (Lena Olin), herself nearly incapacitated by the kidnapper, cannot wake Erik while Benjamin cries for help. 

Erik’s act of redemption occurs when he hypnotizes Simone, helping her to remember key details about the kidnapper’s appearance. This information allows Linna to identify and locate the kidnapper. Although in “Mea Culpa” it is the father who physically rescues his son, in “The Hypnotist” it is Detective Linna who pulls Benjamin out of the kidnapper’s grasp. While Erik is present in the scene, he is merely a bystander to Linna’s heroism. Hence, Erik is a weaker father figure than Simon in “Mea Culpa”. Like “Mea Culpa”, however, “The Hypnotist” ends with the protagonist’s professional and emotional life rehabilitated and the nuclear family restored. 

The female lead in “The Hypnotist” has more agency than the mother figure in “Mea Culpa”, but both films are essentially male stories of vindication and redemption. While “Mea Culpa” is more successful in its execution, considering the films as comparable depictions of families in crisis adds substance to what could be considered mere escapist fare. 

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