French Film STANDING TALL stars Catherine Deneuve

Dir Emannuelle Bercot (b. France 1967) is also a highly acclaimed screenwriter/actress.  STANDING TALL is her latest French film with English sub-titles and stars the always luminescent Catherine Deneuve.  Perhaps, Deneuve is Bercot's muse having cast her in several previous films ("On My Way" '13.)  Deneuve gives an exceptional performance as a judicious magistrate with profuse compassion & patience.  Malony 1st appears before her at age 6 with his distraught young mother coping with a flailing infant. The actor who portrays Malony at 6 appears stoic & accpeting of his abandonment, resigned to his appointed care.  Malony is next seen at 16 doing wheelies with a young woman & toddler in tow.  It turns out the woman egging him on is mom & baby bro.  Appearing before Deneuve again, now on multiple charges including auto theft, she asks if he recalls meeting her.  Time & again a similar scenario is ridden.  Malony has no regard for the law, others or himself & sabotages all  opportunities presented.  Malony is repeatedly sent back to juvenile detention facilities.  The magistrate admonishes Malony for his behavior & reprimands his mother's parental shortcomings.  Deneuve develops a proprietary role allotting for leniency until her patience is exempted and sentences Malony to prison.  His feckless mother flits in & out of his life; at times slobbering with tears & kisses & other times clobbering him.  There is also a steadfast counselor who mentors Malony & offers guidance but Malony does not "take the hand that's offered." In turn, he becomes a dad at 17 assuring the cycle of dysfunction will continue.  There are grueling scenes within each detention center depicting volatile and unwanted lost boys.  If you're a fan of Catherine Deneuve (who isn't) you will appreciate her measured demeanor throughout the film.  However, STANDING TALL feels endless and is arduous to endure.