WHEN THE WAR CONTINUES TO RAGE IN YOUR HEART AND MIND.

A former Tamil Tiger soldier (Antonythasan Jesuthasan) arrives in France as a refugee, posing as the husband and father of a woman and a child he’s never met before; a Paris suburb becomes another rough challenge for him. A film that provides us with much-needed nuance to the lives of refugees and immigrants, showing their struggles in poor communities dominated by criminals. Borrowing inspiration from an 18th century novel by Montesquieu (and Straw Dogs (1971)), the film is tense and down-to-earth, boasting credible performances, not least from Jesuthasan who was once an actual child soldier with the Tamil Tigers. 

2015-France. 115 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Pascal Caucheteux, Grégoire Sorlat. Directed by Jacques Audiard. Screenplay: Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Noé Debré. Cast: Antonythasan Jesuthasan (Dheepan/Sivadhasan), Kalieaswari Srinavasan (Yalini), Claudine Vinasithamby (Illayaal), Vincent Rottiers, Marc Zinga, Faouzi Bensaïdi.

Cannes: Palme d’Or.

Last word: “I had this idea of immigrants arriving on an estate, being taken hostage and so on. Then I watched the Peckinpah again, and… well, I couldn’t quite see why I’d had the idea in the first place. But I had this idea of people coming to France who had no connection with the old colonial empire, so had no reference points in terms of language or culture.” (Audiard, The Guardian)

IMDb