Palme d'Or: Dheepan

Director: Jacques Audiard
Writer: Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain
Stars: Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby
Runtime: 109 minutes

Plot: Refugees from the civil war in Sri Lanka attempt to build new lives in France.

Review: It begins with a short sequence in Sri Lanka: the civil war is over; the Liberation Tigers are burning their dead comrades' bodies and swapping fatigues for civilian clothes to try and melt into the general population. In a refugee camp, a young woman is looking for unaccompanied children to be part of a hastily thrown together fake family, to help one such fighter get clear of the battle zone and into Europe. The three of them, strangers to each other, eventually find themselves in France, and we watch them attempting to adapt to the precarious new reality: negotiating their way through an immigration hearing, peddling tat on the pavements, scattering at the inevitable shout of "les flics!"

The man, going by the name Dheepan (Antonythasan Jesuthasan), eventually gets a job as a caretaker, and the trio make their way to a rundown housing estate; a recently abandoned flat is opened up and given to them to make their home. The arrival of a recently released prisoner, Brahim (Vincent Rottiers) about halfway into the film, triggers a dramatic change. Reclaiming leadership of the gang, his presence infuses events with a sort of trigger-happy nervousness which leads to an explosive climax.

Jacques Audiard's new film about a former Tamil Tiger fighter looking for a new life in France, certainly has some of the director's trademark ferocity, especially in its final minutes, but it displays what can only be described as dialed-down Audiard. Indeed, much of the time it even ambles, peacefully, with nothing much happening.

While there are some elegantly framed shots, this is, by and large, an old-school social-realism drama. All you'll want is for this "family" to come together and find some happiness. And if it makes you think before you shoo away immigrants trying to sell you junk on the street, this can only be a good thing, too.

Reviewed by Intisab Shahriyar