19 July 2016

DHEEPAN. (2015) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.




DHEEPAN. (2015) DIRECTED BY JACQUES AUDIARD. SCREENPLAY BY JACQUES AUDIARD, THOMAS BIDEGAIN AND NOÉ DEBRÉ. STARRING ANTONYTHASAN JESUTHASAN, KALIEASWARI SRINIVASAN, CLAUDINE VINASITHAMBY AND VINCENT ROTTIERS. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©

I love the multi-award-winning French film director and screenwriter Jacques Audiard. Well, I love him but I'm not in love with him, haha. I sort of met him in the flesh last autumn at the Irish Film Institute's 2015 French Film Festival, by which I mean he introduced his film A PROPHET, one of the best foreign language films I'd ever seen in my life and certainly one of the best films of the festival.

He was a small sharp-dressed man, speaking in super-fast French which required the services of a translator. That was pretty cool...! A PROPHET (2012) was a phenomenal cinematic experience, and one that I thought couldn't possibly be bettered until I watched RUST AND BONE, Monsieur Audiard's 2012 masterpiece, which was shown later in the festival.

I would dearly love to tell you all about these two Jacques Audiard films, but for now we'll concentrate on DHEEPAN, a film of his which was also shown at the festival but which I sadly missed at the time. I've seen it now, however, and though I didn't like the ending (it seemed just a tiny bit too 'pat,' if you know what I mean), it was still a bloody good watch. Here's the deal.

It's the story of three people, a man, woman and child, who escape from war-torn Sri Lanka to modern-day France by posing as a family, even though none of them have ever so much as clapped eyes on the other before.

They find themselves living in a rough-looking housing project outside Paris, which seems to be the equivalent of what we call 'council flats' here in Ireland. Theirs is quite a story. A PALME D'OR-winning story, if you don't mind...!

The titular Dheepan, the man of this ready-made family, is a former Tamil Tiger who was on the losing side in the Sri Lankan Civil War, in which his real wife and children were killed. In his new life, he gets a job as resident caretaker of the flats into which they've all just moved.

To help make ends meet, his new 'wife' Yalini takes a job as chief cook and bottle-washer for an old man who lives in the flats and their 'daughter' Illayaal, a lively, intelligent nine-year-old, starts at the local school.

Their problems are by no means over, however. The flats are overrun- and controlled- by a bunch of thuggish drug dealers who'll leave you alone if you mind your own business but they'll mow you down in cold blood if you get in their way. 

Dheepan has to work around the hoody-clad yobs if he wants to do his job. They're a menacing presence in the housing project but, sadly, they pretty much come with the job. If Dheepan crosses them in any way, there will be trouble. Big trouble...

As if that weren't bad enough, Yalini, who was single, childless and free as air in her former life, is really struggling with the responsibilities of her ready-made family that have been suddenly thrust upon her. What she really wants to do is to bugger off to live with her cousin in London.

Will she do it, and if she does so will she take her new 'daughter' with her, or will she decide to stay and make a go of things with Dheepan and Illayaal, who both seem to want her around? 

Don't forget that it suited both adults at one point to have the orphaned little girl around, namely when they were using her to help get them out of Sri Lanka, so if you ask me, they owe the child big-time and they have a massive responsibility towards her. They can't just walk out when it suits them.

All three leads play an absolute blinder in this marvellous film. Each one of them, the little girl included, play their parts exactly as if they were living them. The film is so real that it almost has a fly-on-the-wall documentary quality to it. The two adults in particular turn in tremendous debut performances.

Dheepan looks like an Asian Oliver Reed, which is a humongous compliment as Oliver Reed was one of the big rides of his day and sooooo incredibly handsome that a woman's nether garments
would practically descend of their own accord on entering his sexually-charged presence.

Speaking of which, I would have liked to have seen Yalini enter into a naughty 'extra-marital' sexual relationship with Brahim (that's where I thought that bit was going, to be quite honest with you!) but it's probably for the best that she doesn't.

After all, which is better, a 'husband' (even if he is just a sham husband!) with a steady if poorly-paid job as a janitor or a hot sexy younger drug-dealer who lives by his own rules and answers to no-one...? Oooh-er, don't make me choose. For the love of God, don't make me choose...!

This unflinching portrait of life as an illegal immigrant in a foreign country is available on digital download from 1st August and to own on DVD and BLU-RAY from 8th August, courtesy of the jolly nice folks at STUDIOCANAL. Now, didn't that brighten your day up no end?

What might be extra-exciting is if you watched this and the two films I mentioned earlier in a sort of Jacques Audiard marathon. That would surely be 'excellent,' as Mr. Burns from THE SIMPSONS might say while steepling his ancient fingers.

Even if you just watch DHEEPAN on its own, you'll be doing yourself a big favour cinematically. It's another film, another award on the mantelpiece for Monsieur Audiard and another great gritty and authentic-feeling movie for us eager beaver viewers to get our gnashers into. Keep up the good work, Monsieur Audiard. Je totally t'aime...!


AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.

Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO

 You can contact Sandra at:


http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com







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