UK Jewish Film Festival – Once Upon My Mother

NOTE – Tickets to be booked from UKJFF box office: www.ukjewishfilm.org

Once Upon My Mother
Drama | Dir. Ken Scott | 102 mins | France, 2025 | French with English subtitles

Celebrating a mother’s love in its most profound form, and as Jewish tradition dictates, also its most passionate, Once Upon My Mother, based on Roland Perez’s bestselling autobiographical novel, is an absolute gem of a film: a big-hearted, colourful, emotional yet funny portrayal of excessive, boundless, parental love, spanning decades. France, 1963. Heartbroken to learn that Roland, her sixth child, was born with a clubfoot, Esther Perez, a Jewish immigrant from Morocco, refuses to accept her son’s disability, instead looking for alternative methods — as well as praying for a miracle — that would cure him. Esther remains utterly devoted to her son even after her prayers have been answered, and well into Roland’s adulthood. Accompanied by a nostalgia-inducing soundtrack of French pop classics — including some by Jewish icon, Sylvie Vartan (who also appears in the film) –— Once Upon My Mother, with its indomitable heroine, is a larger-than-life, not-to-be-missed, cinematic experience.