2015 Directed by Jacques Audiard
Three people who have lost everything, a soldier tired of fighting, a young woman and a little girl, pose as a family to escape the civil war in Sri Lanka. They emigrate to France and settle in a chaotic neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris, where apparently the law no longer exists; but they, who barely know each other, struggle to survive there, even when the ghosts of war begin to haunt them again.
Antonythasan Jesuthasan Kalieaswari Srinivasan Claudine Vinasithamby Vincent Rottiers Marc Zinga Faouzi Bensaïdi Bass Dhem Franck Falise Joséphine de Meaux Jean-Baptiste Pouilloux Nathan Anthonypillai Vasanth Selvam Karthik Krishnan Tassadit Mandi Marie Trichet Sandor Funtek Aymen Saïdi Soufiane Guerrab Eric Douré
Erran, Dheepan: l'homme qui n'aimait pas la guerre
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The 2015 Cannes Film Festival jury shocked everyone when they awarded Jacques Audiard the Palme d’Or for his social realist drama turned hyper-violent thriller, Dheepan. This decision was met with very mixed reactions on social media. People seemed to be confused about why a film that didn’t receive much buzz when it premiered during the festival was taking the top prize. Others were just surprisingly pleased. I fall into the latter category, as Dheepan is an extraordinary achievement on a number of levels: its concentration on the frightening reality of escaping one war zone for another, as well as its simultaneous micro-level commentary on French poverty and macro-level commentary on civil war in Sri Lanka (or simply civil war, in…
To address the elephant in the room: No, “Dheepan“ probably shouldn't have won the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival. An understandably controversial choice at the time, it wasn't even the festival's best feature about the psychic perils of migrating into central Europe (that honor goes to Jonas Carpignano's studied and unflinching "Mediterranea," which premiered as part of the International Critics' Week program). For director Jacques Audiard to snag his industry's greatest prize for "Dheepan" instead of his greater earlier efforts, "The Beat that My Heart Skipped" and "A Prophet," is roughly tantamount to Martin Scorsese landing the Best Director Oscar for "The Departed" instead of "Taxi Driver" or "Goodfellas."
And yet, "Dheepan" is peak Audiard, in that…
Dheepan tells an absorbing immigrant story with a refreshing premise -- three strangers pretend to be a family in order to escape a war-torn Sri Lanka for a new start in France, only to be embroiled in even more heartbreaks and turmoil. It's a tale of extreme pessimist nature, despite its sparkles of pulsating humanity.
Dheepan shines tremendously with its close-up, almost painful depiction of the struggles the faux-family, who don't speak much French or possess impressive skills, have to tread through to fit in the new country. The emotional strains from both the outside turf war, and inner clashes push all three members to their limits, especially for the "husband", whose desire to refrain from a violent past is…
Dheepan (2015) Palm D'or winner. A realistic drama of three refugees/ imagrant after war, they flee back to france to live but the war continues there. An hard hitting realistic story.. Definitely recommended!
Winner of the prestigious Palme d'Or at 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Dheepan may not be as strong a cinema as past few recipients of the same honour but it nonetheless succeeds as an engrossing, absorbing & reflective drama that illustrates the plight of immigrants with unflinching honesty and is boosted substantially by outstanding performances from its leading cast.
Dheepan tells the story of its titular character, a former Tamil Tiger soldier who pairs with a young woman & a 9-year old girl, together posing as a family, in order to leave Sri Lanka and begin a new life from scratch. Upon his arrival in France, he manages to secure the job of a resident caretaker but the daily violence in the neighbourhood…
Not at all what I expected but it’s always nice to be pleasantly surprised. The story about these refugees is pretty gripping from the beginning and the cold, stern tone grabs you and doesn’t let up. I really enjoyed the slow buildup to the very unexpected finale and as things grew more out of control, the tension felt more real. Definitely recommend checking it out!
🎬 Entry #11 Cinephile Trio Scavenger Hunt 2: All Saints’ Day
✅ Watch a Palme d’Or winner.
(I liked it but) I'm sick of awards going to movies that are primarily politically conscious, not artistically conscious.
Running for a peace they cannot seem to find, three individuals pushed together during the heat of the Sri Lankan civil war escape together only to find a new kind of hell. In their new place, the civilized promised land of France, things are not what they'd anticipated as they experience new tribes, new factions, new kinds of pain. It's not so new.
Director Jacques Audiard holds the locales, languages and cultural threads of the film together to create a gritty and frankly, depressing tale of human survival against the odds. A story of the peril that exists in our world, even in places that should be safe.
Following a number of similar immigration based crime stories set in the…
TIFF 2015 – film #5 : Dheepan
Reason for pick: Director Jacques Audiard – The Prophet, Rust and Bone
Director Jacques Audiard finally captures the big prize with this year’s outing about a group of Tamil refugees fleeing to France. My only issue is that I don’t think this is the film he should have been rewarded for.
Make no mistake, Dheepan is expertly made, and has all of the gritty visual characteristics of his previous works that I’ve seen; A Prophet and Rust and Bone, and certainly has the same well-paced timing and dramatic arc. It absolutely has incredible performances by its Tamil non-professional acting leads; Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, and Claudine Vinasithamby. It skillfully observes the themes of…
50/100
[Originally written as part of my Day Nine dispatch from Cannes '15 for The Dissolve.]
Finally, I was able to catch up with Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan, which had its press screening very early on the morning after I stayed up late watching Gaspar Noé’s Love. Colleagues who caught it then seemed to enjoy everything except the ending. Again with the ending! (Did I mention that Yakuza Apocalypse ends with a smash cut after someone hits a gong?) Now that I’ve seen Dheepan, I get it, because this is a scrupulously naturalistic portrait of Sri Lankan immigrants in France that turns into a Bruce Willis action movie in its final minutes. Not completely out of nowhere, admittedly—the whole point is…
i thought the first half was really strong and i liked the dynamic between the three main characters a lot but it ended up feeling a little messy and kinda lost me towards the end unfortunately
Deepan is French director Jacques Audiard leaving his comfort zone and turning his focus to refugees, all the while staying in France.
I appreciate he is taking the time to make a film on someone we pass on the street or who bugs you as a tourist. You've seen them before. People who try to sell you trinkets while you are eating outdoors or walking down the sidewalk.
Audiard claims that was the inspiration for the story of Dheepan, the titular character who was a fighter in war-torn Sri Lanka before coming to the west. He saw someone selling items to the side and wondered what his life was like. Audard's heart is in the right place and his empathy…
