Jacques Audiard and part of the cast at the Cannes Film festival

When I read that « Dheepan », a film with unknown Sri Lankan actors, had won the Palme d’Or in Cannes last May, I must admit I had some doubts. This year’s jury probably wanted to be politically correct again ! But my incontrollable curiosity led me to the cinema, on opening day in Paris and I was happily surprised. The film is brilliant, very strong, although a bit too violent for my taste, and mostly, its characters are very moving and remained on my mind for weeks.

Jesusthasan Antonythasan, from Tamil Tiger to cab driver, is a fabulous actor

The story of a Tamil Tiger fighter who needs to emigrate, for his life is at stake in Sri Lanka, is dramatic and so pertinent nowadays. He finds asylum in France where he is given a job as a building supervisor in a Project outside Paris, where drug dealers reign. He moves in with a « fake » wife and daughter, thanks to whom he was allowed to emigrate as a family. This educated and very calm man has to put up with the jungle of suburban life and its violence. His “daughter”, who goes to school, teaches him and his « wife » to speak a little French. Life is horrible, they fight a lot. But they survive.

Vincent Rottiers plays a wonderful crack dealer

The film is luminous and fascinating, thanks to a brilliant and very nuanced direction by Jacques Audiard and interpretation by the three main actors. The French crack dealer Vincent Rottiers, is excellent with combined sensitivity and violence. The ending is a little too perfect, describing salvation in an English suburban home with cherry trees in bloom and a job as a cabbie. But it also makes up for the violent scenes and lets us leave the theatre in a good and optimistic mood.