Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Movie

Julie Delpy’s French Refugee Comedy

rmtsa by rmtsa
September 10, 2024
in Movie
0
Julie Delpy’s French Refugee Comedy
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

The Movies With the Shortest Runs in Theaters

Krypto The Superdog Trend Goes Viral as Superman Inches Closer to Release

Dakota Johnson Gets Karlovy Vary Film Festival Award and Love

With eight movies in just over two decades, actress turned filmmaker Julie Delpy has carved out a curious niche for herself on both sides of the Atlantic. Based in Los Angeles but working predominantly in France, collaborating with Richard Linklater (the Before trilogy) on one hand and Gallic stars like Dany Boon (Lolo) on the other, switching from drama (The Countess) to comedy (Le Skylab) and back again (My Zoe), Delpy, like the frazzled characters she often plays on screen, isn’t easy to pin down.

And yet her latest work, the refugee satire Meet the Barbarians (Les Barbares), is probably her most bluntly French film to date, and certainly her most political one. But it may also be her least funny movie, steeping to clichés and caricature in its depiction of a picturesque Breton village that welcomes a family of Syrians escaping from the war. Sporting a heartfelt pro-immigrant message that feels welcome in these politically divided times, it should play best on home turf, where it goes out wide mid-September following its Toronto International Film Festival bow.

Meet the Barbarians

The Bottom Line

Broad but touching.

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Gala Presentations)Cast: Julie Delpy, Sandrine Kiberlain, Laurent Lafitte, Ziad Bakri, Jean-Charles Clichet, India Hair, Dalia Naous, Mathieu DemyDirector: Julie DelpyScreenwriters: Julie Delpy, Matthieu Rumani, Nicolas Slomka, in collaboration with Léa Doménach
1 hour 41 minutes

Delpy headlines an ensemble cast as Joëlle, a leftist schoolteacher who leads the charge to bring a bunch of Ukrainian refugees into Paimpoint, a quiet rural enclave located in the heart of rain-soaked Brittany. The twist is that Ukrainians are already in high demand throughout France, so there aren’t enough left to bring into town. After some backdoor maneuvering on Joëlle’s part, the village decides to bus in a family of Syrians instead, provoking an immediate uproar among its more racist citizens.

The latter consist of several cartoon-like locals with high levels of bigotry and stupidity — the kind of small-minded, provincial Frenchmen and women featured in hit Gallic comedies like Serial Bad Weddings or the Tuche series. Much of the humor in Meet the Barbarians centers around their foolish antics, and it isn’t extremely hard to figure out that the “barbarians” of the title actually refers to the townspeople themselves, even if that’s the way they would categorize their new Arab neighbors.

Delpy does a more credible job depicting the refugees, a well-educated family whose lives have been torn apart by Bashar al-Assad’s long and violent war. Lead by Marwan (Ziad Bakri), an architect who dreams of working again someday, they do everything they can to blend in with the locals, learning the language, working low-wage jobs around town and remaining tolerant amid lots of surrounding intolerance. While the French characters tend to be broadly drawn stereotypes — petty small business owners, xenophobes, adulterers or weak politicians — the Syrians all come across as actual people.

This disparity seems entirely deliberate on Delpy’s part, but it doesn’t make for great comedy. An actress like Sandrine Kiberlain usually provides solid laughs, but she’s given a mostly thankless role here as an alcoholic grocer whose husband (Mathieu Demy) is having an affair with the town butcher (Émilie Gavois-Kahn). (Cue the scene where Kiberlain’s character attacks them with a giant blood sausage.) Laurent Lafitte, who plays a plumber trying to prevent the Syrians from settling permanently in Paimpoint, has a few good lines. But his character is so despicable that he becomes another stereotype: the white working-class French racist.

Which isn’t to say such people don’t exist in real life, and as many know, France’s far-right National Rally party currently receives much of its support from rural voters. The question is whether these political realities can be mined for laughs, but Delpy seems too intent on proving a point to turn Meet the Barbarians into a humorous affair.

In fact, the film probably works best when it gets serious and a bit sentimental. A scene between Marwan and the town policeman (Marc Fraize), where they sympathize over their love of French chansons, has a touching feel to it. And the rather predictable ending, in which the plumber’s wife (India Hair) is forced to rely on Alma (Rita Hayek), a refugee who’s also an experienced doctor, brings a sudden burst of true emotion.

Despite Delpy’s attempts at broad satire, she ultimately delivers a message movie filled with hope. Sure, it’s far too preachy and never quite believable, but beneath all the typecasting in Meet the Barbarians, there’s a desire to show how a refugee situation can wind up benefiting both sides. As much as the director likes to mock and belittle her fellow Frenchies, deep down she perhaps wants them to be the best version of themselves.



Source link

Tags: ComedyDelpysFrenchJulieRefugee
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

The Movies With the Shortest Runs in Theaters

by rmtsa
July 7, 2025
0
The Movies With the Shortest Runs in Theaters

These days especially, movies’ theatrical runs can look a bit like the Wild West: Some movies get a few weeks in theaters, some movies get months, some get...

Read more

Krypto The Superdog Trend Goes Viral as Superman Inches Closer to Release

by rmtsa
July 7, 2025
0
Krypto The Superdog Trend Goes Viral as Superman Inches Closer to Release

A new trend reveals that Krypto the Superdog is dominating fan conversations ahead of his live-action debut in James Gunn’s Superman. With the film set to launch the...

Read more

Dakota Johnson Gets Karlovy Vary Film Festival Award and Love

by rmtsa
July 7, 2025
0
Dakota Johnson Gets Karlovy Vary Film Festival Award and Love

Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey, Black Mess, Suspiria) got feted at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) on Saturday as the audience for one of her latest movies...

Read more

I want to see the Orange Girl!

by rmtsa
July 7, 2025
0
I want to see the Orange Girl!

When I was 12 years old (15 years ago) I saw a scene of this move, I don´t remember if it is french or german but it is...

Read more

Awesome Trailer For CHAINSAW MAN

by rmtsa
July 6, 2025
0
Awesome Trailer For CHAINSAW MAN

Sony Pictures just dropped the official U.S. trailer for Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, and if you're a fan of devil-slaying chaos and emotional gut-punches, mark...

Read more
Next Post
Jacqueline Laurita Reveals Why Kathy Wakile & Richard Wakile Will Never Move Forward With Melissa & Joe Gorga – All About The Real Housewives

Jacqueline Laurita Reveals Why Kathy Wakile & Richard Wakile Will Never Move Forward With Melissa & Joe Gorga - All About The Real Housewives

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • Watch Exclusive Trailer For ‘2000 Meters To Andriivka’ Documentary
  • Cartoon: Hell in a handbasket
  • Mel B Ties The Knot, Wears Dress Designed By Fellow Spice Girl

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In